GATE - WARFARE
by carlos olivera
Summary: Without the rest of the world knowing, Italy has its own GATE since 1944. When the gate in Ginza appears, the Italian one reopens after seventy years. At that point, Operation Columbus begins in secrecy in northern Falmart. These are the adventures of the Falcon-1 special team, sent in search of a secret that could change the history of both the Special Region and Earth forever.
1. Prologue

_**Author's Notes.**_

 _Here I am again!^_^_

 _As I promised, from today I'll begin to publish the first story of a personal trilogy related to GATE. I must warn you that, as i said in my pervious work, that i'll not follow the anime's storyline, but the novels' one, so you could find something different in this story. By the way, this story is the sequel of "GATE - ANOTHER", the screenwright for a never realized fan movie. In oder to completely understand it you could necessitate to read the prequel, but if you're not interested then I post here below a brief summary._

 _I hope you'll enjoy it!_

 _See you soon!^_^_

* * *

PROLOGUE

 _397 Days after the "Ginza Incident"_

 _S.I.S.M.I.'s Headquarters_

 _Rome_

The black car crossed the entrance respectfully saluted by the guards, halting in front of the main entrance, where the High Chief of the Italian secret service, Colonel Valenti, was waiting for it.

The driver came down for first, opening the back door to the Prime Minister Rigamonti and to the General Pedersoli.

«Welcome, sirs.» saluted Valenti. «We were waiting for you.»

«Is everything ready?» asked Rigamonti

«We're ready to start at your command, sir.»

«Very well. Let's go then.»

«Yes sir. Follow me.»

Following Valenti inside the building, Rigamonti and Pedersoli took an elevator at the other side of the main hall, that after having put the proper secret code begun to descend till the fourth underground level, conducting the three men directly inside the special operations' main room.

The main screen on the wall was shoving a satellite image of the Middle East; Perdersoli and Rigamonti looked it.

«Are you sure that no one will find out what we're planning for?» asked the General

«We've already decrypted the US's surveillance system, and Russia's and China's too. They'll never be able to understand who's responsible for all this.»

«Very well. And what about our special force?»

«They've left our primary base in Nasiriya one hour ago. If they maintain this speed, they'll reach the designated target in five minutes.»

Rigamonti took a cigar and lighted it, spreading a little cloud of smoke all around the room.

«Cut them down.»

At that point, Colonel Valenti turned toward his men.

«Let's begin with Operation Troy.»

«Operation Troy started!» replied an operator.

The entire staff begun to work, and in a blink of an eye the United States, but also China, Russia and many other nations found themselves deprived of the control over their own satellites, which were completely deactivated provoking a global alarm.

«Global surveillance system deactivated, sir. We're in complete control over the designated area.»

«Very well» said the Prime Minister. «And now, let's divert their attention. Give the order.»

«Yes sir!»

One minute later, car bombs exploded in front of many American embassies in all the Middle East, adding even more tension and fear in the minds of all the most powerful men of the world. They thought that the reason for the sudden deactivation of their surveillance systems was in those bombs, but the truth was completely different.

«The United States have declared a Defcon-3 Level!» said a second operator

«They ate the bait» said Pedersoli

«Bravo-1 is two minutes far from the designated target.»

The image on the main screen changed, showing a satellite recording of a big military camp in the middle of the Iraqi desert.

«And this should be the reason for all our problems in the Middle East?» said a sarcastic Rigamonti

«The base has been taken by the rebel forces four months ago. Since then, the Iraqi Army and the United States have tried to retake it on many occasions, but all of their attempts failed.» the General replied. «It's probably the most impregnable enemy stronghold in all that area.»

«The perfect guinea pig for us.» malignantly said the Prime Minister

«Bravo-1 is ready, sir! They simply await for the order.»

Rigamonti extinguished the cigar by smashing it under the shoe, and then he lifted up his eyes.

«Let's rewrite history, folks.»

«Bravo-1, commence the attack!» ordered a third operator.

One moment later, the rebel forces which were occupying the base saw an Italian C-130 fly over them and drop a couple of strange, metallic and very big cylinders that, equipped with a parachute, descended upon earth landing in vertical position about one hundred meters out from the base's perimeter.

Some of the rebels cautiously approached, trying to understand the exact nature of those strange containers, when suddenly both of them opened like shells, revealing two terrifying creatures inside of them. They were humans, probably, but their bodies were completely covered in metal armors, provided with some voluminous helmets that, in addition to covering their faces, gave them a very menacing appearance.

The two "creatures" remained still for some seconds, looked at in astonishment by all the rebels, then, slowly, they began to walk toward the base.

«Fire!» ordered the rebels' commander, whose men immediately obeyed.

The enemies received an unthinkable amount of bullets, falling to the ground apparently dead without trying to answer to the fire.

At that point, a couple of rebels advanced toward them in order to confirm their eventual death. However, when they were almost at their feet, the two "things" suddenly rose up without a single wound, opening fire with their automatic rifles and killing both of the enemies before they could even understand what was happening. Then, after having got up, they resumed their advance, shooting without hesitation and killing every enemy so unfortunate to find himself in their firing range.

The rebels tried to defend themselves, but since that moment not a single bullet proved be able to reach those two things, since all their shots were incredibly stopped by some sort of shining barrier that appeared like magic in front of them.

«What the hell are those… beasts?» cried one of the rebels before being torn apart by a hail of bullets.

Thanks to a camera settled on their helmets, the entire battle was being transmitted on live stream directly on the SISMI's main screen, arousing a mix of fear and wonder in the heart of all the spectators.

«Magnificent.» the Prime Minister whispered.

The two soldiers were about to reach the base's entrance, when a couple of T-62 medium tanks appeared from behind a building. Both of tanks stopped in front of the intruders and opened fire, but despite being able to force them to a rest their bullets were stopped once again by their shining shield.

«Achilles to base.» said one of them to the radio. «The enemy is using heavy weapons. We request the authorization for the use of first class equipment.»

Perdersoli and Rigamonti looked each other, then Rigamonti lighted up a second cigar.

«Base to Achille, permission granted» said the General.

Then, both the armored soldiers threw down their automatic rifles, and put a hand behind their back they took a couple of long wooden staffs, provided with a shining jewel at one end surrounded by a metal crescent.

The tanks fired again, and one more time the shield repelled their shells, then the two soldiers aimed their staffs against them; the jewels began to shine, then suddenly a giant, overwhelming ray of light appeared from nowhere, destroying earth at its passage and sweeping away both the armored vehicles, which exploded together with the entire base, leaving behind only dust and destruction.

In the main room, the entire staff observed the scene in astonishment, some of them even trembling in fear.

But Rigamonti was not frightened. He was happy.

«Enemy target destroyed» said a wordless operator. «No sign of enemy activity.»

«Begin the operations for the safe return of Achilles and Aeneas.» ordered Pedersoli

«From today, the history of this country will change forever.»


	2. We'll meet at Calibria!

1

 _One Year Before_

 _Northern Falmart, Mountain Range of Ice and Snow_

 _Day 54 after the beginning of "Operation Columbus"_

If someone visited Castria only one year before, he would probably found it hard to recognize it.

Instead of the old, creepy village covered in moss, lost in the heart of the Mountain Range of Ice and Snow, there was now an immense stronghold, completely surrounded by a massive, star-shaped wall, provided with the most incredible defensive weapons, with an entire new city built inside of it.

Even the fields all around the old town had been re-created, transforming a far land forgotten by gods and humans in a prosperous community full of life. The strange men came from the mystic portal of the heavens had proved to be kind people, providing help to many tribes and villages touched by the plague or the war and welcoming anyone from all the corners of the region, from elves to the dwarfs.

Their goals were not completely clear, but for now all they seemed to want was to establish good relationships with every pacific people around Castria, and considering the close proximity to Reich's Empire there were many people that went to them in search for protection or support.

Surely their power was incredible. Shortly after their arrival, almost half of the Reich's southern army had put Castria under siege, only to see almost two thirds of their assault force wiped out in just a couple of days. Since then, Reich's power in the region had been greatly reduced, and now the Singing People, as they had been called by many, were the sole and only rulers of that big portion of land that extended between Reich and the Empire.

Their Ruler, General Nicola Perdersoli, was really a good person, always ready to help both his men and the strangers inside his city. Thanks to him, all the people that had arrived in Castria from the surrounding region had been authorized to remain despite his commanders' initial orders, and now their little setting had turned into a city inside the city, full of life and activities.

Obviously, the civilians were more than happy to give their personal contribution in exchange for the Singing People's protection, producing food, maintaining the order inside their community, trading with the outside regions and many more things. There was only a single rule to follow: to every citizen allowed to enter in Castria was strictly forbidden from reveal the Singing People's existence inside the Empire. Because differently from Reich and the cities in the middle land, the Empire at the moment was not aware of the events occurred in Castria, and the Singing People's commanders wanted this situation to remain unchanged. Fortunately the Empire's borders were quite far from there, so in the last months not a single Empire's inhabitant or ambassador has visited Castria, while the merchants were more than happy to observe this rule in exchange for being able to preserve their good relations with the Singing People.

That morning, General Pedersoli was in his office, as always, when his attendant, Captain Mauro Florenzi, respectfully knocked ad the door.

«Yes?»

«Quartermaster Grrodon is here, sir.»

«Let him in.»

Florenzi closed the door, and briefly after an aged and bearded dwarf, the quartermaster Grrodon, First Builder of the Marzehorr Clan, entered in the office, completely covered in dust and lime.

«Welcome, my friend.» said the General getting up from his chair.

«General.»

«So? What do you need so soon at the morning?»

«I simply wanted to report you that the problem at the southern walls has been solved. The ramparts are perfect again. Neither Hardy and Emroy together couldn't open a breach in them now.»

«Thank you, my friend.»

«Honestly, I've never thought we could be able to build such a stronghold in barely a couple of months. Your instruments of construction are really amazing.»

«Not as much as your knowledge on stone and edification. They've been very useful to my people, even on the other side, so I want to thank you dwarfs in the name of Italy and the Italian people.»

«Everything you want, General. As long as you keep those Reich bastards far from these lands.»

«If I remember correctly, your clan comes from their empire.»

«We dwarfs have fought with the Northim for centuries for the control of the northern mountains. Our war experience and our knowledge always allowed us to keep them at bay, but when they suddenly managed to surpass us we've been wiped away in less than two years. We live as refugees since then, but one day we'll be able to retake our land.»

«I've already told you, my friend. We cannot conduct an aggressive war against them. It would be against our policy.»

«There will be no need for this, General. We dwarfs are really patients. We've created cities, parks and palaces in the deep of the earth when the humans were a bit more than savages. Reich will disappear and then those lands will be ours again.»

Pedersoli looked at his little friend, then he took a wine bottle from the shelf and gave it to his guest.

«For you, my friend.»

Grrodon took it and begun to greedily drink it, looked at with a smile by the General.

«Even your alcohol is amazing, my friend. You could conquer all of our kingdoms making us drunk with such nectar.»

«There are plenty cases waiting for you and your fellows in the storehouses. Speak to Florenzi and you'll have them.»

«It's always a pleasure, General. Have a nice day.»

«You too, my friend.»

While Grrodon was leaving the office, Captain Flavio Lunardi crossed the door of the room, called by the General himself.

He was quite a fine man, with short, martial hair and deep eyes, full of all that war experience which only an expert paratrooper could have. Despite being barely thirty-two years old he could boast an enviable curriculum among the elite of the Italian infantry, especially in Iraq and the Balkans.

«Good day, boy.» joyfully said the dwarf

«Already drunk at eight o'clock? You're the worse, Grrodon.»

The dwarf loudly laughed.

«There's nothing like a good drink to start the day. After all, you Singing People are good drinkers too, don't you? Right, General?»

«Grrodon, could you leave us alone?» respectfully said the General.

«Aye aye, sir.»

Then Grrodon left the office.

«Did you call for me, General?»

«Welcome, Captain» Pedersoli said while taking a cup of coffee from his desk. «Can I offer you a coffee? Despite Grrodon's words, wine is not the best choice to start a day.»

«No Sir, thank you.»

«As you wish.»

The general sat again and turned to look his computer.

«I read your last report. Things are going well, I see.»

«So it seems, Sir.»

«We're here for almost two months, but our influence is already considerably large in this region. We've reached considerable trade agreements, and the colony is growing well. Plus, after our last battle, this Reich has not tried to attack us anymore.»

Then the General stopped, looking Lunardi directly in his eyes.

«It seems it's time to retake into hands that situation.»

Lunardi hesitated, looking for a moment the parquet under his feet.

«You and your squad have explored this region many times. Did you find something that could confirm our hypothesis?»

«Nothing, sir. Sadee says to have found that coin in an archeological site in the depths of Reich's dominion. So, at the moment, we're not able to reach it to conduct further investigations.»

«What a bad luck» replied the General before turning his lips into a satisfied smile. «Fortunately, we've probably found a solution.»

«Sir?»

«I suppose you know Calibria.»

«Yes, General. It's the main city-state in the Haqaba Plains, and one of the greatest military powers in Northern Falmart.»

«Not only. It's also home of a major magic school, one of the most respected of this continent. The school houses an ancient library, probably the biggest historic archive of the entire Special Region.»

Lunardi gasped in amazement.

«So…»

«Yes. If you search for evidences, maybe that's the best place to search for them.»

«But sir, I'm not so sure that the mages will be happy to share their knowledge with us.»

«We sent an ambassador one month ago to negotiate with them, and we've been able to reach an agreement. The mages will authorize us to conduct some researches in their library if we'll be able to defeat some of them in a sort of challenge.»

«What kind of challenge?»

«A cultural challenge. If two of our fellows will prove to be wise enough about the Special Region's history and cultural aspects, then we'll be allowed to make use of their knowledge.»

A confused Lunardi looked at the ground.

«With all respect, sir, we don't have two scholars for this challenge. Sadee is wise enough to face this quest, but none of our other colonists has her wisdom. We can't take this challenge, General.»

«Are you sure about this?»

Lunardi remained silent, and then the General activated his interphone.

«Let him pass, Florenzi.»

One moment later, a young man entered in the office. He might have looked like anything but a soldier, with that brown, mid-long hair, the small eyes and the large, a bit heavy aspect. He was probably thirty years old, and judging from his traits he was from the north, probably Venetian. He looked a bit disoriented, as if that was not his place, and probably he had seen a battlefield only on TV in all his life.

«Captain, I introduce you professor Giuseppe Radoni. He'll represent us in the competition with the mages along with lady Sadee.»

«Nice to meet you, Captain Lunardi.» the professor said with a tiny, timid voice.

Then Lunardi turned to Pedersoli again.

«What do you mean by this, General?»

«Don't you see? I'm assigning a new mission to you and your squad. You'll escort lady Sadee and professor Radoni to Calibria, when they'll face the mages' challenge to obtain the access to the library.»

Flavio seemed a bit unpleased, but discussing the orders was not in his nature.

«That coin's existence could be just a coincidence, but we can't be completely sure. If some of our ancestors would have visited this world, they could have been the fathers of the actual Empire. And this would mean that these imperials are almost our brothers.

Do you understand what could represent all of this for us and our country, Captain?»

«Yes, sir.» Lunardi answered after a brief hesitation

«I have faith in you, and I know you'll fulfill your duties as always. That's all, Captain. You can go.»

«As you command.» he respectfully said before leave the office.

* * *

Oder, the capital of the glorious Reich Empire, was probably the greatest city in all Falmart after Sadera.

The place where the Oder stood had been for centuries a poor land, and his builders, the Northims, were known for being a bit more than savages. But suddenly, something had changed, and a group of barbaric tribes had turned in the blink of an eye into a mighty empire, capable to submit one third of the continent in less than fifty years.

Their power resided in their strange, new faith. Their god, Fuhrer, was a new one in Falmart's rich pantheon, and listening to their stories he was the one that gave them the knowledge and the abilities to create not only a strong nation, but even the most powerful, deadly weapons that the entire continent has ever seen, the gewehre: iron tubes, filled with a strange powder, capable to kill every enemy despite the distance or his protection, piercing armors and destroying shields like paper.

The city was truly magnificent, full of squared, yet nice buildings and all was colored in white, to reflect the sunlight that, across the mountains, reached the valley where Oder was located. And that marvelous treasure's most precious jewel was the Emperial Palace, or the großenpalst, from which the glorious emperors of Reich surveyed their entire realm, spreading the light of Fuhrer all over the world.

Unfortunately, the last Emperor, Adolf I, had died almost five years ago without a male heir, so his crown had passed to his only daughter, Ygraine, but the new Empress was too young to guide and rule such a great and strong empire in its most difficult hour. Fortunately, there was the high priest of Fuhrer, the wise Magnus, to act on her behalf, and thanks to him Reich had been able to face the new menace which mysteriously appeared in the southern plains: the Singing People.

That morning, like every first Sunday of the month, wise Magnus was overlooking from the großenpalst's main balcony for speak to Oder's people regrouped in the square in front of the palace, which uproariously had saluted him when he appeared from behind the curtains.

He was both an inspiring and an intimidating figure, completely hidden behind his long, red tunic, his enormous helmet and his golden mask, but his words had the power to put an entire nation on fire.

«People of Oder! Rejoice! Another month is about to begin! Another month of prosperity and glory for your great empire!»

The people exulted again, shouting all their admiration for the Empress and their god.

«Eternal glory to Fuhrer! – Long live the Empress! – Long live the High Priest Magnus!»

«Remember who we are. We are the blessed people, chosen by our mighty lord to spread his glory in all this world! We're the sons of the heaven, blessed with his mighty power! We've been entrusted with this important mission, and we'll pursue it no matter the cost! Soon, very soon, all Falmart will bow to the might of Fuhrer, and we, as his sons, will be the most loved inhabitants of his golden dominion, blessed for eternity!»

The crowd shouted loudly in response, rising up their right arm towards the sky.

«Sieg Fuhrer! Sieg Fuhrer! Sieg Fuhrer!» they continued to say for many minutes, watched with satisfaction by the High Priest.

* * *

«We can hide between speeches and proclaims as long as we want, sirs.» Magnus said walking all around the table at the center of the war room. «But now we must face the truth. This empire is collapsing.»

Around him, the Reich Triumvirate was following his report, each of them in a different way. Octavia, the commander of the Eastern Army, was listening him, sitting on her bench, occasionally throwing a lock of her long, blonde hair away from her face, while her icy, scaring blue eyes continued to observe the war map. Donzark, leader of the Western Army, was standing next to the table, malignantly smiling at the sight of his army's progress and grumbling in dissatisfaction every time his dark eyes reached that little black point marked as Castria. At the end, Ludwika, Fuhrer's most loved and powerful demigoddess, was playing as always with her springy string, smiling and having fun like the preadolescent she appeared to be; her dark, frilly dress gave her an even more cute and innocent aspect, but behind that sort of mask there was a true war goddess, able to kill thousands of men in a blink of an eye with no hesitation.

The Empress, Ygraine I, was sitting on her throne, with her usual, discomforted expression: she knew very well she's too young to be able to properly administrate her kingdom, but despite being a bit of doubtful about the High Priest's policy, she did not have the necessary authority to discuss him, not after having authorized the Triumvirate, the Imperial Family's personal bodyguards and faithful servants, to follow his orders for the sake of the Empire. Her silver, almost white hair was the physical representation of her strong magic abilities, giving to her dark, shiny skin an even more beautiful appearance.

«We're facing strong winters after another, our crops are increasingly scarce, and not a day passes without news of rebellions and uprising in the outlying regions. We need to further extend our dominion, because this cursed land is clearly trying to send us away. Very soon, there will be not enough food to sustain all of our population, and so the empire built to live for over a thousand years will not survive to its first century.»

«We've already conquered almost ten times our original territory» Octavia said. «But now we're surrounded by the Range of Ice and Snow on south-west and the Haqaba Plains on south-east. And all of you are aware of the fact that both these lands will be really difficult to submit. The Mountain Range is very difficoult to cross, while the numerous city-states in Haqaba, despite being continuously in war each other, could join forces to face us if we attack the plains.»

«Reich has the most powerful army of this world.» answered Marcus. «We have the gewehre, the dragons, the wyverns, and the battle beasts.»

«But the people from the other world have defeated us, or not?» joyfully said Ludwika without bothering to stop playing.

All those present stopped, looking in the ground in disapproval.

«She's right.» Octavia said again. «Their power clearly surpasses our own. If they should decide to attack us, we'll be the ones to be wiped away.»

«If their intentions were to invade us, they would have attacked us immediately after having rejected our first assault.» Donzark answered. «But they didn't do it, and after two months they remain around the gate. So, I don't think that their plans include an attack against Reich. Not for the moment.»

«However, they're offering protection to many communities and tribes of that region. I think that should be enough to confirm that they're not well disposed toward us.»

«Castria is a secondary objective.» Magnus broke off. «We attacked that region to wipe away the Arlea Forest's white elves, and we succeeded. So, for now, we can leave them to their own affairs.»

Magnus then looked the map, pointing Reich's next objective with his baton.

«We'll move against Calibria.»

The Generals looked each other in bewilderment; the Empress trembled, and even Ludwika seemed a bit surprised.

«With all respect, High Priest.» said Octavia. «Calibria is the major city-state in all the Haqaba Plains. It has the strongest army, enormous walls, and is surrounded by a dry and inhospitable land. It survived five different sieges of the Empire, and its power is amazing.»

«We're not the Empire» malignantly said Donzark

«General Donzark is right» said Magnus. «The Empire is our target, and Calibria is the shortest way to reach it. I've received some interesting news from the Range of Ice and Snow. The empire is facing a very serious crisis, and most of their power has been wiped away. If we attack them before they have the time to reorganize, we could conquer this entire continent in a blink of an eye.»

The High Priest then returned to look the map.

«You're right if you say that Calibria is a difficult prey, but we've faced worse sieges before this, and we always prevailed. Plus this, Calibria is not loved by the other city-states of Haqaba, then no one will come to help them, not if we assure them that Calibria will be our sole objective.»

Suddenly, the Empress spoke.

«Couldn't we try with diplomacy?»

The High Priest and the Triumvirates looked her with surprise.

«Maybe we could reach an agreement with them, and obtain a free passage toward the Empire's borders.»

«My Empress, Daughter of Fuhrer» said Magnus. «This is not the time for diplomacy. It's Reich's own safety to be at stake, and we cannot waste our precious time with empty words.»

«But… why should the war be this empire's sole diplomatic approach toward other countries?»

«As I said, my lady, the situation requires this kind of approach. If we don't move our entire dominion southwards, soon we'll return to be the savages we were before your immaculate grandfather came to us, spreading Fuhrer's light upon our humble minds and guiding us to the glory.»

Ygraine hesitated, as always after all.

«Remember your oath, Empress. You must spread our Fuhrer's glory to the whole world, wiping away the Empire's false gods and bringing Reich to the absolute dominion. This is the promise we made to Fuhrer in exchange for his knowledge. This is the goal we… you must follow.»

But then, at last, the Empress got up, strongly clutching her imperial scepter and showing off a proud and authoritative gaze.

«I've always approved all of your decisions, High Priest, but this empire has seen too many wars. For this, I command you to send an embassy to Calibria in order to discuss a political solution. If the diplomacy will prove to be unsuccessful, then I'll start to consider the possibility of a new war.»

«But, precious Empress…»

«In the name of Fuhrer and for the sake of the empire, these are my orders! And you'll follow them!»

A dissatisfied and almost enraged Magnus looked at her, and even the Triumvirates didn't seem to be too happy, especially Donzark.

But, after all, she was the Empress nevertheless.

«Sieg Heil!» the four of them loudly shouted.

* * *

 _ **Notes**_  
Here I am again. Thank you so much for all of your support. Finally things begin to move, and soon we'll see plenty of various action. I want to pay all my thanks to my friends _**Apollonir**_ and **_Arimane_** for their precious help in correct this story, you're truly fantastic^^  
 _ **Androsvandraco:**_ Yes, italy finally has its own super soldiers^^ Unfortunately, you'll need a lot of time to find out how it's been able to "create" them^^  
That's all folks. See you to the next chapter, and for be kind I leave you with a spoiler: _First rule of the Special Region: never trust a Warrior Bunny!_ ^^


	3. Never Trust a Warrior Bunny!

_**Notes**_

 _Here I am! And here we are with this second chapter. The squad is ready, and now it's time for them to depart toward Calibria, when the first part of this story will be settled. About this, I want to point out that at least for the said first part the GATE's original characters will not be envolved, while from the second part some of them, especially Itami and Rory, will start to have some appearences, so wait for them^^_

 _ **Androsvandraco:**_ _Yes, Ygraine will be the voice of reason for the biggest part of the events, but as always a sole voice could not be enough in a warmonger Empire, despite being the Empress. But this is an other story^^_

* * *

2

The massive walls all around Castria were provided with four different entrances, called "Porte" each of them faced to a different direction.

The main door, _Porta Roma_ , was faced to east, toward the center of the continent and the Flaminia Road; _Porta Firenze_ and _Porta Milano_ were facing north and south respectively, while _Porta Torino_ , faced to north-east, connected the outdoor with the colony, which was divided from the rest of the stronghold by an inner wall provided with two more different doors, _Porta Napoli_ and _Porta Palermo_. Each door was heavily surveilled by the Singing People, and no one was admitted inside Castria without their authorization.

Inside the colony the public order was assured for most by a special police created by the locals and commanded by a small group of policemen of the Singing People, the _Carabinieri_ , and unless having the Singing People's authorization to the colonists was forbidden to freely walk around all the other sectors of Castria.

Plus this, a second wall had been built around the gate and the command center, strictly surveilled by a massive unit composed by soldiers and armored vehicles.

Apart these simple rules, the life in the colony was quite good and peaceful, there was a lot of food and wine, and the Singing People were a very good company, always ready to enjoy life and have friendly relations with their guests, and with the female guests in particular.

The _Prima Forza speciaLe di Coordinamento e Organizzazione iNdipendente_ , best known as _Falcon-1_ , had played a primary role in the colony's development and in establishing good relationships with the various populations of humans, demi-humans and other beings all around the region, so their members' presence in the locals or taverns of the town was always welcomed by the inhabitants of Castria.

«Again!?» Corporal Salvo Rizzoli shouted almost spitting his ma nuga's free roast. «We've returned from our last mission just three days ago.»

«Salvo's right.» protested Pfc. Enea Torrisi. «Where's the free license they promised us?»

«These are the orders, guys. I know you're tired, but the upstairs have personally appointed our team for this mission.»

«Are you surprised?» said Sgt. Valentina Stefanini drinking some of her beer. «After all we're practically her highness' personal bodyguards.»

«Sorry if I give you so many problems» said a sarcastic Sadee reaching them and sitting at their table.

She was really beautiful, like a true elven princess, with her long, dark hairs were as soft as satin, her pale skin and her blue, shining eyes. But behind that gentle face and that gorgeous body there were both a refined scholar, expert in every aspect of human knowledge, and a fine warrior, equally deadly with a bow and a sword.

«What a pleasure» Valentina said making a dramatic bow. «Her holiness has descended upon us.»

«You're always so kind, Valentina» Sadee responded with the same tone. «And you're still surprised that no man on this other earth wants you?»

Soon after a catgirl waitress went to deliver Sadee's dish, and when her eyes and Caporal Matteo Amato's ones met, they both blushed, to the great amusement of his teammates. Amato was the youngest member of his squad, being barely twenty-five years old, and a lot of girls had proved to be attracted by him, considering his natural handsomeness, with the brown, short hair, the green eyes and the gentle face.

«So.» maliciously said Torrisi. «How's going between you and Kyatia?»

«It's not your business.» initially tried to avoid Amato before confessing. «Well… we're working on it. I tried to obtain permission to take her with me to Turin for the next holidays, but they refused.»

«Obviously.» answered Rizzoli. «No one in the world knows that we're here, and they cannot risk a security leak.»

«Sometimes I ask myself why we're doing all this» said a dejected Stefanini. «What's the sense of creating a bridge between us and these people if the entire world must be kept uninformed about the fact that we have our own gate?»

«It's not to us to investigate the upstairs' purposes.» Lunardi broke off. «The mission departure tomorrow at nine a.m. Inform the other ones.»

«Yes, sir.»

* * *

After dinner Flavio and Sadee decided to spend some time walking along the colony's streets.

The evening was fresh but starry, the autumn was almost upon them, but in that little piece of land not far from the Subicum Sea the temp was pleasant for almost the entire year. For this, after the sunset, the entire colony was as much enjoyable as during the day, with countless people that were singing, dancing or spending some time in the public areas like taverns, locals or ballrooms filled the town with an unstoppable joy of life.

The Singing People also were more than happy to join the fun, and even that night most of them were spending their free time making the thing that had given them their nickname: they were singing. Listening to them was a bit difficult sometimes, since despite having a common language they were known to adopt countless varieties of the same words, but their songs were so powerful, so enjoyable that bards and artists came from every part of the region just to learn them and find new ideas.

Apart from singing, the Singing People's other favorite hobby was their strange game with the ball, or _calcio_ , an unusual but curious game played by two different teams inside a big squared garden with two doors covered in nets. Most of the colonists thought it was quite a nice game, especially the kids, and some of them even had learned to play it, so almost every evening one or more matches were played in the fields made near the main square of the colony.

When Sadee and Lunardi reached the field, a match between the Singing People team and a formation of Grrodon's dwarf miners was taking place, so they sat on a free bench to assist.

«It's… strange…» Sadee said after the soldiers scored the 3-1 and all the presents were exulting. «Everything seems so… peaceful. It almost doesn't seem that these soldiers are currently fighting a war.»

«They're not fighting a war.» Lunardi answered. «Not at the moment, at least.»

«However, I think that Valentina and the others are right. What does all of all this mean if Italy cannot afford to reveal the truth neither to the world or to its own people?»

Flavio waited for a moment, watching almost in melancholy his companions fight and run over the field, then he answered.

«The dwarfs' building techniques are literally rebuilding our cities while we talk, tons of golds, jewels and other materials earned with trading agreements are restoring a terrifying public debt, dragon's scales and giant spiders' nets are opening new frontiers in the warfare technology. I've heard from a friend that even an important food industry has reached an agreement with some farmers and breeders for the supply of ma nuga's meat and milk to sell them posed as cow.»

A surprised Sadee watched him.

«Trust me Sadee, there's more than you can think in all this.»

* * *

The following day, the Falcon-1 was ready to depart.

As many other exploration squads, even the Falcon-1 was composed by fifteen members. Most of them were common soldiers at their first mission in foreign territory, but apart from the four commanders, Amato, Rizzoli, Stefanini and Torrisi, other notable members were the sgt. Vittorio Rocco, a _Lagunare_ from Trieste with great experience in scouting, survival and infiltration, and sgt. Giada Valenti, from the _62° Reggimento "Sicilia"_ , with an hematology's degree and two years as paramedic between Palermo, Rome and Herat.

As always, the expedition force will be formed by a _6x6 Puma APC_ for the biggest part of the team and three _Iveco VM-90_ , two in engaging mode and one in transport mode, for the supplies and the equipment.

«Sorry for the delay!» professor Radoni said arriving at the meeting point burdened by a giant suitcase full of documents, papers and books. «I've studied almost till four o'clock, and so…»

«You'll need to be more present and careful to the provisions from now on, professor» Lunardi scolded him. «We're definitely in a warzone, and I cannot risk the lives of my men because you're reading a sign on a wall. Understood?»

«Y… yes, sir.» shyly answered Radoni.

Shortly before departure, even General Pedersoli came to salute them: Florenzi was with him.

«I entrust you their lives, Captain. And our hopes, obviously.»

«Trust me, General. We'll safely escort Princess Sadee and professor Radoni to Calibria without a doubt.»

«The mages gave us a time limit. In order for the challenge will take place, you'll need to reach Calibria within four days from now.»

«We'll succeed, sir. You have my word.»

«Very well. Good luck, Captain.»

So, the mission officially started.

Lunardi and the soldiers couldn't know it yet, but they won't be seeing Castria's walls for a very long time.

* * *

The squad knew that travelling along the Flaminia Road three days were needed in order to reach Calibria, and before twilight the column had entered already in the vast Haqaba Plains, a huge, flat land covered in small plains, little hills and insignificant trees agglomerates.

The sun was powerful, the air really burning and full of noisy insects, and clouds of dust were continuously kicked up by the wheels over the dirt road.

Lunardi's VM-90 was leading the column, followed by the truck and the second VM, with the Puma driven by Torrisi to watch the back. Everything was so quiet and apparently calm that sometimes the soldiers let themselves distract by the amazing landscape all around them, and especially by the doblirth, that strange and curious creatures similar to dinosaurs as big as a horse and with a long, serpentine neck, usually used by the Haqaba's inhabitants for ride thanks to their strong resistance to the plains' difficult conditions.

Sadee sat aboard the Puma, alongside Radoni and other soldiers, including Giada.

«Giuseppe, it's been a long time» Sadee said at one point, as if she was trying to break the tension. «Last time I saw you, you were just a little kid at the Faculty of Ancient Studies at Cà Foscari.»

«And you a female princess elf disguised as an ordinary student» smiled the professor rising up his eyes from the book he was reading.

«That time I noted immediately your intelligence and your acumen. That's the reason for why I recommended you for the Army's special program.»

«And now, here we are. Side by side towards a crazy game that could open us the doors of the greatest source of wisdom that all mankind has ever seen. I admit I'm a bit anxious.»

«Are you still determined to learn magic?»

«I think that magic could help mankind in the most unthinkable ways. It's my duty to study it, and even learn it if I can. It could be the dawn of a new era for all Earth.»

«Be careful, young boy. I've seen many of my brothers consumed by the sense of omnipotence that magic can generate in the unprepared minds.»

«Don't worry, lady Sadee. I know my limits, and I'll not defy them.»

Meanwhile, differently from his soldiers, Lunardi wasn't so stunned by the magnificent spectacle of the sun that, as red as a lava's sphere and as big as he had never seen, had begun to descend behind the horizon, and reached the radio he took the microphone.

«Falcon-1 to Base, can you hear me?»

The radio crackled, but no one answered.

«Falcon-1 to Base, if you hear me, please answer.»

But it was all useless, and then the Captain paused the microphone and took off his helmet for a brief moment, passing a hand over his sweaty forehead.

«It's no use, it seems.» Amato said while driving

«It's that goddam forest. They couldn't find out the reason yet, but it seems that the entire Arlea Forest generates some sort of magnetic camp that completely blocks every signal.»

«This would be a problem.» Stefanini said from the turret. «This is the first time we go so far from Castria. What should we do in the case we'll need for help?»

«They're trying to create an analogic system bypassing the forest, but they'll need more time to place all the fibers and build the antennas. Until now, we'll have to get on our own.»

«Easy to say. But those cursed plains are full of dangers, and I don't have any intention to…»

Valentina suddenly became silent, looking in front of them with a worried face.

«What's happening?» Lunardi asked

«There's someone along the road, sir.»

Lunardi looked himself, and noting a considerable group of persons not far from them he ordered to the column to stop, so he took his binoculars for a better look.

At a first glance they seemed a numerous group of humans at horse, but after a few moments the Captain and all the other ones with the binoculars noted many long, rabbit ears, plus the fact that all the strangers were surely women. They too had spotted them, and now they were keeping an eye on them without approaching.

«They're Warrior Bunnies.» finally said Lunardi.

The soldiers hesitated, because they knew very well that this sort of amazons were generally peaceful, but that even they could become really dangerous if provoked or met during one of their numerous tribal wars.

«What do we do now, Captain?» Amato asked.

Lunardi took the radio again.

«Remain vigilant. Get ready to fire, but remember that we can shoot only if provoked.»

«Holy shit, it almost seems to be still in Iraq.» Rizzoli grumbled from the Puma's turret while loading his Browning.

Flavio waited for a moment, then he ordered Amato to advance.

Then, slowly, the column moved again along the road, reducing more and more the distance between them and that group of riders. The warrior bunnies instead remained still, looking at the strangers who approached without moving or making anything suspicious, and when they were close enough Lunardi was able to see them more clearly.

One of them, probably the chief, was tall and slender, with long, pale hairs and blue eyes, armed with a couple of daggers and a long spear, while behind her there was a bit younger, brown-haired girl, dressed like a mage, or a shaman. All the other ones appeared to be ordinary warriors.

When they found themselves about ten meters away, Lunardi ordered to stop again, and for a long time the two groups remained still and silent, watching each other as in search for the minimal sign of menace.

The tension rose, especially when one of the warriors noted the red light of the laser sight on a companion's forehead, prompting all the other ones to unsheathe their bows, spears and swords.

Suddenly, the Puma's back door opened, and professor Radoni, after getting out from the car, began to slowly walk toward the warrior bunnies with raised hands, as white as a sheet and with the eyes full of some sort of "brave terror"

«That cursed idiot.» Stefanini said through clenched teeth. «What the fuck is he doing?»

The commander advanced herself, and so she and Radoni found themselves face to face.

« _Mahartkum said_ (translation: Good day)» said Radoni.

The commander and the other warrior bunnies looked at him, astonished, and even Lunardi and his men remained wordless.

« _Mahartkum said obarak_ (Good day to you).» answered the commander smiling in satisfaction

Then Radoni lowered his hands, without stop trembling however.

« _Milei sadeira Armetis diseli toru ali, vir arshok_ (May Armetis' bless descend upon you, mighty tribal leader)».

The commander came down from her horse, approaching to the professor until their noses almost touched, then smiled again.

«Not bad for an earless.» she said speaking in Ludorian, the Empire's official language.

Then Lunardi and his men heaved a breath of relief, and the Captain came down from the jeep with no weapons approaching the warriors. Even Sadee, Amato and others did the same.

«Greetings, ladies.» he said, causing the Warrior Bunnies' hilarity

«We're not ladies, boy.» said one of them «We're war goddesses.»

«My apologies» smiled Flavio

«Careful, Captain.» said a suspiciously Sadee. «I know the Warrior Bunnies' way to act. They offer you to drink with a hand while they stab you with the other one.»

The commander smiled in satisfaction and in complicity.

«It seems that the famous white elves' distrust over other species is not only a legend, after all.»

«We don't want to have bad surprises.»

«An admirable way of thinking, my friend. But if we were your enemies, some of us would lay dead on the sand already, covered in blood, or not?»

Sadee and the commander looked each other in the eyes, then both of them smiled.

«You seem smart. An unusual virtue for a Warrior Bunny.»

«I'm Pentesia. Queen of the Ilyon Tribe. And this is my cousin, Medea, our First Shaman.»

The timid mage saluted them, and at that point the atmosphere significantly calmed down.

«Do you come from the southern part of the plains?» asked Sadee

«Precisely. And you must be the strangers everybody talks. The ones who appeared at Castria.»

«We are.» Lunardi answered.

«What are you doing so far from your home, if I may?» Medea asked

«We're going to Calibria for an important mission. This is all I can say you.»

«Then it's better for you to find another way. The road ahead is blocked by a landslide.»

«What!?» Lunardi said with a stunned face

«It's true.» said Pentesia «You can go and see it by yourselves if you want.»

The Captain immediately ordered to Stefanini to send a flying drone to the designated point, which took off in front of the astonished Warrior Bunnies, and thanks to it, it became possible to see the ruins of an old bridge on a big canyon, completely destroyed and unable to use.

«What we do now?» asked Rizzoli «That was the sole route for Calibria.»

«I would not be so sure» said Pentesia. «There's an old hunting trail that crosses the valley and reaches the other side of the canyon. If you take it, you'll return on the Flaminia in a few hours.»

«Where is this trail?» Lunardi asked

«Not too far. We're camped along its course. If you follow us, we can lead you there.»

«Why would you do this for us?» asked a suspicious Sadee

«We've heard of your efforts in defense of Castria's people against Reich. You seem to be a good and fine people, so we want to offer you our help. But you can refuse, if you prefer.»

Lunardi asked to consult his men, so he and the others withdrew near the vehicles to discuss, while professor Radoni remained to talk friendly with the queen and her soldiers.

«What do you think, Sadee?»

«A friendly approach toward other species is not unusual for the Warrior Bunnies. But if I may, they seem even too much friendly to me.»

«They could have something in mind?» Giada asked

«Probably, but nothing hostile I suppose. If they've really heard about the battle at Castria, they already know that they would have no chance against you. The Warrior Bunnies are crazy and warmongers, but unless being forced to defend themselves they'll not fight a hopeless battle.»

Then, Lunardi returned to Pentesia, smiling after a brief moment of silence.

«Thank you for your help, Queen Pentesia. Please, show us this trail.»

«With pleasure.» Pentesia smiled.

* * *

Following Pentesia and her warriors, the column then left the main road and departed into the heart of the plains, reaching the Warrior Bunnies' camp shortly after sunset.

It was a rather big camp after all, with many women, young and little girls, but without a single male. All of them showed big surprise to the sight of the newcomers and their strange carriages covered in iron and completely green.

«It's dangerous to travel along the trail on night.» Pentesia answered when they asked to leave immediately toward Calibria. «The road is narrow and difficult to see, so it's very easy to get lost. You can rest here for tonight. We'll be happy to have you as guests.»

Lunardi was not too happy to lose all that time, but after all he didn't know that place so well to risk a night journey, so he decided to accept the queen's invitation.

He and his soldiers took place in the camp's outskirts, and after having mounted their instant tents they begun to cook their personal dishes, almost exclusively military rations ready for cooking.

«We'll mount the guard during all the night.» Lunardi said to Rocco while the others were cooking regrouped around the fire lighted by Giada. «Let's dispose for a two men's continuous surveillance, one near the fire and the other aboard the puma.»

«Don't you trust them, sir?»

«I don't know. Not yet. But I don't want surprises. Frizzi and Niang will have the first guard. We'll change them at three a.m.»

«Yes sir.»

The dinner, however, didn't appear to be too hearty, and while all the soldiers were regrouped around the fire some of the Warrior Bunnies reached them with their hands and canisters full of meat, vegetables, bread and wine.

Now that they weren't wearing the war paintings, the battle vests, the spears and the knifes, they were completely different from before, beautiful demi-humans so kind and so apparently lovely that, despite Lunardi's initial refuse, soon that little camp turned into a big party, with songs, cheers and laughs.

Even Pentesia and Medea joined the celebrations, and the queen in particular seemed to be really happy to see her fellows sing and dance with humans after so long.

«How long I waited to see my people so happy again.»

«Your people has been wiped away by the Empire, didn't it?» Lunardi asked

«Indeed. We've been almost completely annihilated.»

«I know this story. But I've heard that some of your people has been able to find a new home in the south.»

«They're just traitors.» said an enraged Pentesia. «They sold their pride of Warrior Bunnies in exchange for protection, and now they live as pitiful farmers and servants for a human family. We're the daughters of Emroy, God of the War. We don't intend to forget what means to be a Warrior Bunny. We'll not throw away our heritage.

For now we are few, but with patience and steadiness we'll rebuild our people, and one day we'll take our lands back from the Empire.»

Soon the evening became night, and the wine began to make its victims; Giada and Rizzoli were the first to collapse, and being well informed about the Warrior Bunnies' "colorful" approaches to ensure their reproduction Lunardi decided to pretend nothing while he noted some of his soldiers stand apart in a tent or in the darkness all around them with some of that girls, made brave and excited by the alcohol.

Professor Radoni, however, seemed to dislike all the celebrations, and for almost all the time he remained near one of the vehicles, assorted by one of his books.

At one point, the young professor looked up, finding Medea in front of him with a cup of deropea, the Warrior Bunnies version of tea.

«Do you want some?»

At first Radoni thought to refuse, but considering he had hardly eaten he eventually accepted that kind gift.

«Thank you.» he said taking the cup and tasting that pleasurable scent of herbs.

While he was drinking, Medea sat at his side, trying without success to understand the mysterious words in his book.

«What language is this?»

«It's our mother language. It's called Italian.»

«I… talian…?»

Radoni showed her some words.

«See? This word is pronounced _Regione_ , or _Seherei_ in your language, or _Region_ in the Empire's language. This instead is _Speciale_ , _Plenem_ for you, _Special_ for the Imperials.»

Medea smiling looked at him.

«You seem very smart. Are you a mage?»

«I would like. Unfortunately, magic doesn't exist in our world.»

«It doesn't exist!? But how can you sustain yourselves then?»

«We've developed other sources of progress. Like electricity, oil and even the sun. But who knows… maybe one day, thanks to this world, we'll be able to also use magic.»

Medea was really a curious and gentle girl, and without realizing it Radoni spent the following hour to teach here some Italian words, finding in that young Warrior Bunny a capable and intelligent student.

«You learn quickly.»

«Really?» she replied with a funny expression

However, after a brief time, Giuseppe began to feel really tired; he had never been able to withstand long journeys, and that day's one had been quite painful, not to mention the fear he felt in front of the queen and her warriors.

«Am I interrupting something?» said a malicious Sadee reaching them

«Don't worry, Miss Sadee. I was just about go to sleep. Good night Medea.»

«Good night, Mister Radoni.»

Giuseppe retired into his tent, and soon after the celebrations ended, the rumors ceased, and apart a couple of sentinels placed in surveillance of the strangers' camp the settlement was covered in darkness and silence.

* * *

Giuseppe had the strangest night. His sleep proved to be restless, full of strange dreams, visions and other things, almost all of them connected to the Warrior Bunnies' world: he dreamed of their traditions, their history, even of their sexual preferences, a thing probably influenced by the fact of coming in contact with their people for the first time.

Upon awakening, the first thing the professor felt was a terrible headache, coupled with very blurred vision and a general malaise.

«Please, don't tell me I have the flu.» he mourned, only to find out to be even almost completely deaf.

He felt a strange sensation even all over his skin, but because of the blurred vision he couldn't understand the cause of it.

«Strange» he said noting some sort of brown sleeves on his arms. «I don't remember I fell asleep dressed.»

He tried to get up, but the headache was so heavy that he almost stumbled, and after dress he left the tent.

The morning was fresh but a bit foggy, and probably was going to rain. Amato was preparing some coffee in front of the campfire, chatting and joking with Stefanini about the last evening's party. The other ones instead were probably still sleeping.

«Caporal Amato. Please, could I have some of that coffee? I really need it.»

Amato and Stefanini then turned toward him, and despite the blurred vision he clearly noted a surprised expression in their eyes.

«What are you doing here?» Stefanini asked «I thought the Captain had forbidden you to stay here for the night.»

«What are you talking about? Where else should I stay apart here?»

The two soldiers looked at each other clearly surprised.

«Are you still confused for the wine?» Amato said. «I'm surprised that Captain Lunardi approved our "cultural exchanges", but you could have some troubles if he'll find you here.»

«Again? And where should I go then?»

At the point, even Lunardi and the other soldiers came down by their tents called by the din, pointing all of their eyes toward a more and more puzzled Radoni.

«I thought to be clear» Captain said with irritated tone. «Who it was to disobey the orders?»

No one spoke.

«Captain, I don't know what's happening, but now you're scaring me.»

Then, Flavio and the others remained stunned, as if they had a ghost in front of them.

«Why are you watching me like that, all of you? We've met barely a couple of days ago, I know it, but what did I do to deserve such glances?»

Then, Sadee made some steps toward him, watching him directly in his eyes.

«Giuseppe?»

«Yes, of course. I'm Giuseppe Radoni. Why do you look so surprised?».

In response, Sadee took a mirror from her travel bag and handed it to the professor.

«Look for yourself.»

With a strange, and in a way worried sensation, Giuseppe put the mirror in front of his face, and when the mist finally disappeared from his eyes he saw something that he would never expected.

Reflected in the mirror there was a cute, young and feminine face, topped by lively green eyes and encircled by a thick head of brown hairs. The nose was a bit squashed, giving to the face a vague rabbit resemblance, and two, long rabbit ears emerged from the top of the head.

Initially Giuseppe thought he was still dreaming, but when he felt his cold hand on his cheek face, and the cold breeze of the plains pass through his long ears' fur, a jolt exploded along his... her spine.

«WHAT THE HELL?»


	4. A finch among the eagles

_**Notes**_

 _Here I am with the third chapter. It's incredibly easy and funny to wright this story, so despite the few free time I have i can respect my schedule^^_

 _There we are: almost all of the major characters are appeared already, the only ones still remaining will make their appearence during the next 2 chapters, then the real story will begin. See you soon!^_^_

 _ **Apollonir:** thank you as always for your help as beta. Yes, the good relationships between the soldiers and the Special Region's inhabitants are an important part of the italian mission, and Lunardi and his soldiers are quite friendly people._

 _ **Androsvandraco:** As i said you, yes, soon the Italian mission's true objective will be revealed, and they'll prove to be not so well-disposed to other people as well as the japanese._

* * *

3

Radoni was so enraged that when queen Pentesia and Medea reached the camp the soldiers were forced to restrain him from attack them.

«Can you gently explain this?» said Lunardi with in very little friendly manner

The two ladies proved to be equally surprised, but not for Lunardi and his squad's same reasons.

«What have you done, you idiot?» shouted the queen grabbing Medea's neck

«I… I don't know it.» she tried to reply, she too as wordless as the soldiers. «Maybe something has gone wrong.»

«You can be sure that something has gone wrong!» Radoni replied with the tiny and sharp voice worthy of a pro actress. «Have you seen me?»

«Why did you do this?» asked Sadee.

Medea and Pentesia helplessly looked each other, then the queen began to talk.

«All the males of my tribe have been killed when the Empire destroyed our kingdom. I'm the cousin of our last queen, and I'm as pureblood as her, but without males we cannot ensure the reconstruction of our race.»

«Why?» asked Giada

«A new queen must be pureblood, and only two Warrior Bunnies can generate a pureblood. This is our tradition.»

«So, since you have no males anymore» said Sadee «have you tried to… create one?»

«Our last shaman conducted many researches in all her life, with the final intent to solve the problem of our species, but she's died during the war. We've done our best, and we thought to have found the right formula.»

«That's the reason for why you were so well disposed with us, am I right?» said Lunardi. «And I suppose that even the collapsed bridge was a bait, wasn't it? An expedient to be sure we would have accepted your help.»

«We have great respect for you and your people Captain, trust me» tried to say Pentesia. «But just because of your victories against Reich and your legendary power, we thought you could have been the right persons to mate with in order to generate a future queen.»

«But why the professor-one?» asked Amato

«Well… he seemed the most intelligent one…» said a timid Medea

«Look who's talking…» replied Stefanini

Then an enraged queen turned again toward Medea.

«We suffered many difficulties, and sold almost everything we had, to collect all the ingredients to create a single dose of magic potion. But this little idiot has just ruined everything!»

«It… it's not my fault.» cried Medea. «I followed my aunt's recipe in every passage, I'm sure of it.»

«Then how do you explain this?»

«I'm the one that should say it!» Radoni shouted. «Make me normal again, now!»

Medea looked at the ground, discomforted.

«I don't know the recipe to create the antidote to counter the effect. My aunt didn't ever taught it to me.»

«What!? I don't want to stay like this! Not at all!»

«Unfortunately, we have other priorities at the moment.» Lunardi said. «We've lost enough time, and we must arrive to Calibria by tomorrow evening.»

«I would not be so sure, Flavio.» replied Sadee. «I fear we have a big problem now.»

«Another one?» asked a distrusted Rizzoli

«What kind of problem?» said Lunardi

«The problem is right in front of you» the elf replied turning toward Radoni, and making turn Flavio as well. «Maybe in Rondel anyone can go and ask to learn magic, but Calibria is a completely different thing. Their mages are incredibly conceited and arrogant, and they'll never accept to dispute a challenge or be publically humiliated by a Warrior Bunny.»

A stunned Flavio looked her, and even the other soldiers were clearly astonished.

«I'm not a goddam Warrior Bunny!» Radoni shouted. «I'm a human being, I come from Treviso, Italy, I have two different university degrees, I have a chair in Cambridge, I speak five of the six most used languages of this world, and I know about the story and the culture of this goddam place better than anyone else!»

«What you are behind that appearance has no importance. The mages evaluate their honor above everything else, and to preserve it they'll not risk a challenge against a supposedly inferior being.»

Then Radoni crumbled on his knees, almost crying in despair.

«This… this can't be… it's just a nightmare…»

«I'll come with you.»

Everyone turned toward Medea, whose expression was radically changed, becoming less childish and much more mature, making her look like a true shaman.

«Medea…» Pentesia said.

«I'll explain them the circumstances of this situation, and so they'll let professor Radoni meet the challenge.»

«How can be so sure they'll trust your words?» asked an almost provocative Lunardi

«My aunt has been the only one of our race to study in that school, and she's still greatly respected in Calibria. Trust me, they'll believe me.»

All of them remained silent, while a strange atmosphere descended all around.

«There's one more thing.» Medea said again. «It's in Calibria's magic library that my aunt has studied in order to create the morphing potion. Then, maybe down there I'll be able to find a solution to reverse the potion's effect and return the professor to his real aspect.»

Listening to these words, Radoni seemed to restore some of his hopes.

«Can you really do it?» he hopefully asked

«I don't know. I can try. But I need to consult Calibria's library.»

Radoni then turned to the Captain, almost begging with the eyes to accept the girl's offer.

«It's seems that there's no other solution.» he said. «Ok, come with us.»

«Are you sure, Captain?» asked Torrisi

«Do you have something else in mind?» he replied with a discomforted tone. «This world is almost completely new for us, and I'm sure they know its rules better than us.»

«The high command could have some objections.» said Giada

«They will have even more objections if the entire challenge will hung out.»

Lunardi looked Medea again.

«Prepare yourself. We leave in half an hour.»

«Yes, master Lunardi.» she replied before returning to her tent

«And you too, move your asses! I want this camp dismantled in ten minutes! Move, move!»

* * *

Exactly thirty minutes later, the squad was ready to depart again towards Calibria.

«Follow this street for ten miles.» Pentesia instructed them. «It will lead you to the other side of the canyon. At that point, you'll be able to return to the Flaminia Road. You'll be at Calibria for tomorrow morning.»

«Your efforts are admirable, queen Pentesia.» said Lunardi getting on board of the first VM-90. «But your methods are highly questionable. You were lucky to try your tricks with us instead of with someone less well-disposed.»

«I understand. Sorry again. I'll try to make amends as soon as possible.»

Then Pentesia reached the third VM, aboard which there was Medea, sat on the back.

«Are you sure you want to go, Medea?» she asked with a gentle tone and worried eyes

«We were wrong, cousin.» she replied while smiling. «I want to save our race as much as you, but we cannot do it at the expense of someone else.»

So Pentesia gently caressed her cousin's cheek, provoking a strange heat in Medea's heart.

«I'm sorry, Medea. It's my entire fault. Sorry for what I said you earlier.»

«It's ok, Pentesia. We're both culprit.»

«Take care.»

«You too.»

Sometime later the column departed, and Pentesia remained to observe it till it disappeared beyond the horizon.

* * *

Sometimes be the largest and the strongest military, economic and political power of the entire continent can become a problem.

When almost 250 years ago the Artic War almost destroyed it from its foundations, the Empire was forced to accept a dramatic evolution toward a more advanced and sustainable system, in order to allow to the imperial authority to not be questioned again.

The first step had been to give to the most reliable among the subdued people the control over their former reigns, under the formal control of the Imperial Capital, a problematic but necessary solution in order to preserve control over a land that covered almost entirely the entire Falmart continent. Then, since the end of the war, the Empire had been formally divided in three different realities, with a north-eastern and a south-western regions both administrated by a Viceroy directly connected to the Imperial Family, and a central region, called the _Midlands_ , under the direct control of the Emperor.

Surely it was only a political division. The Viceroy was more a symbolic than a political figure, and its power was strictly limited by many laws: the northern kingdom had the second most powerful army in the entire continent after the Midlands' one, while the southern kingdom was practically the Empire's granary, with its vasts countrysides and the mild climate; however, to conduct or begin a not-defensive war the Imperial authorization was needed both for the northern and the southern kingdom. In both kingdoms plus this there was also a senate, called Concilium, formed by one-hundred members, but as much as the Viceroy its power and its freedom of action were under the direct control of the senate, whose approval was necessary in order to deliberate about most of the issues.

Despite all this, Padavium, the northern capital, was a really beautiful city, equally molded in its buildings and its spirit by the imperial culture and a northern influence daughter of a time when all that region was under barbaric occupation. The entire city was beautiful and functional at the same time, and being equally influenced both by the empire and the barbarian culture it was, like the entire north, a strange creature, where the imperial authority was not so great like in the south, and the freedom of speech or dissent was guaranteed in the right proportion.

All of these, obviously, was possible thanks to the actual Vicequeen, the twenty-three years old Her Imperial Majesty Kanaria Livia Egrestia, Emperor Molt's niece and daughter of the imperial crown princess Lutetia Sol Augustus. She was called the "Azure Witch", both for her well-renowned magic abilities and her long, light blue hair, the perfect adornment for a bit tiny, but even graceful body, and most of her people was unanimous in considering her the most beautiful girl in the world.

That morning of an apparently usual day, General Titus Quintus Agrippa showed up in the throne room, finding the Vicequeen Kanaria while she was watching the city from the room's main balcony.

He was a young and charming man, with a thick and well-groomed beard, dark, curly hair and a powerful physique, and despite being only thirty-two years old he was considered one of the best Generals in all the Empire, and surely the most experienced in the north.

«Have you called for me, my lady?» he said making a little but very respectful bow.

Kanaria remained silent for a long time before answering.

«It seems all so peaceful.» she said without turning around. «The city is preparing for another day.»

«It's all thanks to you, my lady. Since when you have taken the throne, all the north has flourished.»

«When I was only a child in a noble family, being the Vicequeen was the last of my thoughts. I'm still here to ask myself why the Concilium approved my nomination so easily.»

«You are absolutely the Concilium's closest member of the Imperial family, but you're also born and raised here in the north. You know this land much better than many else, so the Concilium thought you could be the best candidate to lead our land in these difficult moments.»

«These difficult moments…» Kanaria said again with a melancholic glance, before tightening her hand around her magic baton. «Have you heard the news from the capital?»

«About the Green People? Yes, of course. They speak about the worst defeat in the Empire's history.»

«They're not exaggerations. My cousin Pina wrote me a letter. The Empire has lost over one hundred thousand soldiers in the assault to the other side of the gate and in the attempt to retake Arnus.»

«For Emroy's sake, what kind of power have we provoked?»

«And that's not all, General.» the Vicequeen said finally turning toward Titus. «I've heard other stories during my secret walks along the streets.»

«You should stop doing such things, my lady. It could be really dangerous.»

«How can I be a good ruler if I don't spend my time among my own people? Anyway, it's said that another powerful people has appeared in the far north, in the Castria region.»

«My spies didn't report anything like that, my lady. And we know that the common people love to tell stories.»

«You would not speak like that if you looked at them, Titus. I saw fear in their eyes.» then Kanaria stopped for a moment, looking at the sky as if she was searching for a Gods' answer. «It doesn't matter what we think, General, it's what the people think that counts, and they fear.»

«You think these stories are true, my lady?»

«I don't know it, my General. I don't know.»

«But how can be possible? For what we know, there's only one gate in the world, the Arnus' one. How would the green people be able to get this far?»

«You come from these places, just like me. So you know as well as me the stories about the existence of another gate somewhere in the far north. Maybe the legends are true.»

The General hesitated for a moment, then a light of fear appeared even in his soldier's eyes.

«But… if so, the Empire is likely to be attacked on two fronts.»

«That's what I fear, Titus.»

«If that's the case, maybe we should immediately alert Sadera, my lady.»

Titus was about to call his bodyguard to give the order to prepare a messenger, but before he could do it Kanaria raised a hand, ordering him to stop.

«We'll not do anything like that. Not for now.»

«But, my lady…»

«The Empire is already occupied in repelling the Arnus invasion.»

The princess stopped again, looking timorously at the ground.

«And in any case, fighting those strangers, if they really exist, is not an option for me.»

A stunned Titus looked at her.

«What!?»

«The Empire claims to be invincible, but it has lost almost all of his main army in just two battles. It's clear that those Green People, as they call them, are incredibly powerful. They could wipe us all if they wanted it, but after so much time we're still alive. What make you of all this?»

Titus reflected for a moment, passing a finger over his long beard.

«Do you believe that they're not here to attack us?»

«We attacked their world, and they've seen their superior power against us. We attacked them at Arnus Hill, and they had the proof that we simply cannot oppose them. But even after all this, they don't seem to have any intention to counterattack. If you want to know my opinion, I think that defending themselves is the sole thing they want.»

«Maybe they're simply waiting for the right moment.»

«It could be true. And if that's the case, I have no intention to provoke their rage myself.»

«Do you want surrender!?»

«Obviously not. But if the Emperor is not smart enough to negotiate with them, then I'll do it.»

«Negotiate!? With the barbarians?»

«I'll not stay put to watch the Empire dig its own grave. If negotiation is the only thing that can save us, then I'll talk with them, I'll listen to their proposals, and I'll try my best to save the land I swore to protect.»

Titus remained still, incredulous and indecisive. As a faithful servant of the Empire he always considered the negotiation a coward and shameful act. However, as a soldier, he knew at the same time that if the stories were true then neither the Empire was powerful enough to oppose the Green People.

«Your uncle, the Emperor, will not be happy, my lady. You could be accused of high treason.»

«I swore to serve the Empire and the North, not my uncle. Furthermore, no one will know about all this till we'll be able to confirm the Green People's presence at Calibria and begin the negotiations.»

Kanaria turned again toward the city, losing herself between the high towers, the colored roofs, and the streets full of life.

«We live under the constant menace of a Reich's invasion. I said many times to my uncle to do something to stop them, as well as my predecessor. He says that they'll never be able to trespass the Haqaba Plains or the Range of Ice and Snow. But I fear that it could be just a matter of time before their armies attack our borders. We cannot afford two powerful enemies. Not at the moment. I prefer to negotiate with the smarter one, instead of unleashing a war that will drag this nation into the abyss.»

A long silence filled the balcony, suddenly interrupted by footsteps. Titus turned toward the entrance, and shortly after the familiar face of an aged but still young enough senator appeared in front of him. He was probably fifty years old, almost completely bald but with a respectable dark beard and long, little blue eyes.

«It's been a while, General Titus.» the aged senator said with a friendly smile

«Senator Valeriano. I thought you were at Tirintus.»

«I've been called by Her Grace.»

«I asked Senator Valeriano to act as our ambassador among the Green People. He has a long experience in diplomatic affairs with other populations outside the Empire, and his ability in conduct negotiations is very well-renowned. You, General Titus, will be his personal guard.»

«His guard!?» said a confused Titus

«I'm sending both of you to the north. You and the Ninth Legion will escort Senator Valeriano to Calibria, in order to make contact with the Green People and open a diplomatic channel. If they'll prove to be well disposed to discuss with us, I'll personally lead the negotiations in the name of the North.»

An incredibly stunned Titus turned again toward the Vicequeen.

«My lady, do you really intend to do this!? If the Emperor will find out this…»

«It's an order, General.» she severely replied.

The General hesitated, he seemed about to collapse in disbelief.

«It's an incredible long journey. It could take even three months. Not to mention that the Haqaba Plains are in the middle, with their deserts, their beasts and especially their no well-disposed rulers.»

«I've reached an agreement with King Rhoderius of Lyrnessus. He will allow you to pass toward his lands in exchange of a part of the gifts that you'll take with you. The remaining part will be a pledge of friendships for the Green People to prove our good faith.»

Both the General and the Senator looked at the Vicequeen, but while the General seemed to be ready to collapse, the Senator was almost happy.

«It's up to you, my friends. You're my most trusted fellows. It's the sake of the Empire that I'm entrusting in your hands right now.»

Then, both of them made a bow.

«We'll not disappoint you, Your Grace.» said the Senator

* * *

In a few hours, as said by the queen, the column was able to return to the Flaminia Road on the other side of the canyon and proceed to the Journey toward Calibria.

Aboard the Puma, Radoni was still trying to understand what happened to him, and continued to look at his new, strange body in search for answers. As his physique had considerably narrowed, all of his dresses had become too large for him, and then he had no choice but use a dress kindly provided for him by Pentesia.

In front of him, Medea wouldn't stop looking at him, truly worried for what she had provoked with her reckless behavior.

«How's it going?» asked at a certain point

«All this fur makes me hitch.» he grumbled scratching continuously

«Your body is not completely changed yet. You still have a human being's sensitivity. When the change will be complete, the itch should disappear.»

«I don't want a complete change. I want to come back to my true form. How can I go to my lessons in this state? I'd be Cambridge's laughingstock, not to mention that they will never allow me to return to my old life in order to protect their secret.»

«Giuseppe, what they did has no excuses» said Sadee. «But try to understand their circumstances.»

«It's easy for you. You're not the one that went to sleep in human form and woke up in the form of some adolescent's wet dreams.»

«I'm sorry. Trust me. We were with no other options. When the Empire destroyed our kingdom, we've been almost completely wiped out. With no pure males to mate with, we'll never be able to generate a new queen, and our race will soon disappear.»

«New kingdoms rise and die every day. It's the course of history.»

«You speak like a Reich's inhabitant.» replied a serious Sadee.

«You lived in our world for seventy years, lady Sadee. You've studied our history as much as this world's one. Pretending to live in the past is simply useless. One must face the changes if it wants survive, or its fate is simply to disappear.»

Medea lowered her eyes again, Radoni continued to scratch.

In that moment, the column was proceeding along a rocky plain, with a long and moderately high rock formation located all along the left side of the street.

From the armed turrets, Stefanini, Niang and Rocco carefully surveilled the surrounding area, and among them Niang, the sole black member of the team, was the first one to spot the sudden appearance of a great number of riders along the formation's rifts. They were all riding the doblirth, and their faces were absolutely not promising.

«Three o'clock, sir!» he said in the radio.

Lunardi and his companions barely had the time to look out from the windows that all of these riders threw them out from the rift against the column, shouting and waving sabers, lances and other weapons in the air.

«Hostile contact, watch out!» Lunardi shouted before being almost hit by an arrow. «Return fire!»

«They're Turig!» Medea said. «The Plains' marauders!»

The turrets fired against the hostiles, but they answered by shooting with strange long rifles forcing the soldiers inside the VM-90 to lie flat on the vehicles' surface.

«They have the gewehre, watch out!» Valenti said shooting with her AR-70

«Probably they stole them from Reich's patrols!» Lunardi replied before turning toward Amato «Go! Go! Let's get out of here!»

«Yes sir!» the soldier answered pressing on the accelerator

The vehicles quickly accelerated, but the Turig began to pursue them along the road, shooting both with the gewehre and even with bows and crossbows, and, despite the huge losses caused by the enemy fire, they continued to advance.

«Do you want some more, bastards?» Niang shouted, putting another charger in his Browning and resuming shooting.

The huge crossfire impressed the Turig for a brief moment, but they ultimately decided to continue with the attack, pushing their almost exhausted doblirth to run faster in order to maintain the VM-90's speed and not lose their prey.

«Shit, they're more stubborn than a dwarf.» Sadee said after shooting her last arrow.

Ultimately the column entered in a narrow canyon surrounded by high rifts, and while they were still in the canyon someone, probably another Turig, provoked a rock landslide from above; the rain of rocks collapsed directly on the street, stirring a dust cloud and forming a wall directly in front of the vehicles.

«Watch out!» Lunardi shouted.

His vehicle and the other ones managed to stop in time, but the wall was undoubtedly too high to be easily trespassed. And before they could fully understand what was happening, the soldiers saw the other Turigs run right at them, now sure of their ultimate victory.

«We're trapped.» hissed the Captain.


	5. And if a Demigoddess comes with us

_**Notes:**_

 _Hi again my friends!^^_

 _Sorry for the delay, but i've been quite busy with my job, the I had really a little freetime to wright._

 _By the way, here I am with a new chapter._

 _I'll try to be as fast as possible qith the next one, so stay tuned. I've put some explainations to the end of the chapter, if you need them^^_

 _Thanks as always to all ones that read, leave their reviews or add this stories to the Favourites or the Followed._

 _See you soon!^_^_

* * *

4

«Protect the perimeter! Use the rocks for cover! Move! Move!» Lunardi shouted leaving first for his vehicle.

Almost all of the soldiers then left their positions, taking cover behind the fallen rocks, while three remained inside the armored turrets or aboard the vehicles, using them as shields against the arrows or the bullets.

«Stay here and don't move!» Sadee said to Radoni and Medea before closing them inside the Puma

«Sadee!» Stefanini said throwing her an AR-70, which the girl caught before running to hide behind Lunardi's VM-90

The soldiers remained still, waiting till the Turig were in optimal range, while the earth trembled under their dorblirth's paws.

«Fire!»

Blocked by an impressive counter-fire that killed many of them, the remaining Turig jumped down from the dorblirths, hiding behind some rocks, and a dramatic gunfire took place in that tiny canyon.

The gewehre were not so much different from the weapons used during the Great War, but they could become really deadly if used correctly: they were basically bolt-action rifles, with a five-round magazine feed system, powerful enough to pierce an imperial armor and with enough accuracy to guarantee a precise shot within one-hundred meters. Some of them, like the one used by one of the Turig, were equipped with a viewfinder in order to assure more accurate shots in the long distance, and despite being unable to trespass a modern bulletproof jacket or a helmet, a direct hit has proven to be able to provoke a serious hematoma or an internal injury.

It was clear that the Turig had an enviable experience in a gunfire, probably thanks to their assaults against the Reich patrols that constantly moved along the Plains' borders, the same patrols from which they had stolen the gewehre.

«Keep them far from us! Support each other! Don't leave the covers!» Lunardi kept shouting.

At one point, seeing that the enemies' rifles were much more powerful than their own, the marauders began to launch some strange ceramic balls provided with a lighted fuse.

«Granades!» Rizzoli shouted, pursuing his companions to hide behind their protections

As well as the primitive bombs used by the terrorists already faced by Lunardi and some of his guys in Iraq and Afghanistan, even those ones, cheerfully called _bombazze_ by the Italians, were full of tiny iron spheres, that at the moment of the explosions darted in every direction, proving to be really dangerous even for a well-protected soldier.

The bombs detonated not far from the vehicles, and their hellish content exploded as powerful as a hurricane, but fortunately Lunardi and his men were already hidden behind the rocks. However, one of the iron spheres struck Niang in a shoulder, and lifting up their eyes Radoni and Medea saw him fall from the turret, outside the vehicle.

«Samuel!» Radoni cried.

«Man down! Man down!» Valenti shouted seeing herself what was happening.

With no hesitation Medea opened the door and went outside, reaching the soldier and trying to help him with her magic.

«Medea, wait!» Radoni tried to say while going hesitantly after her.

«Don't worry, it's just a scratch.» he tried to say while pressing his hand on the wound. «Come back inside.»

Medea was so busy to try to help Niang that she didn't note the threatening arrive of a couple of Turig from the other side of the wall of rocks.

«Watch out!»

As if his body was moving on its own, the professor instinctively took Niang's gun, and despite having never used a firearm in all his life, he was able to perform a perfect headshot against one of the enemies, before diverting his companion's assault and kill him with a deadly kick on the neck that broke his spine.

«Not bad» said Sadee once arriving as backup. «Where did you learn to do such things?»

«I… I don't know…» Radoni replied equally astonished.

But despite that little victory, the situation was becoming really dramatic: soon after, other Turig began to descend from the wall, encircling the squad and attacking them from every direction.

«Captain, we're surrounded!» Torrisi shouted taking down an enemy

Suddenly, a shadow appeared above all them, and one moment later some sort of earthquake smashed the battlefield, while from the sky a strange little girl appeared among the Turig.

Physically she appeared to be barely thirteen years old, with an estimated height of fifty-five inch and a frail, thin body. Despite this, she was wielding a giant war-hammer as big as her, with a massive head provided with a pointed wedge on a side, a smooth surface on the other one and a little morning star connected to a chain on the other side of the baton. She was dressed like a nomad, with shorts, travel boots and a creamy white shirt provided with a hood pulled down over her apparently long, violet hair.

At her sight, all the present ones stopped at once, wordlessly looking at her.

«Who the hell is she?» asked Rocco

The newcomer left up her giant hammer, putting it on her shoulder.

«Hell, how many times did I tell you, Turig? You cannot attack anyone within arm's reach» and immediately after she struck one of them, breaking all of their bones and throwing them already dead against the walls of the canyon.

The soldiers remained stunned, while the other Turig, after that brief moment, tried to stop the little girl, only to be wiped out one by one by that sort of monster that with no apparent effort killed the biggest part of them, forcing the other ones to a final, desperate retreat aboard of their dolbirth.

Then, when the situation finally calmed, Lunardi and a couple of his men carefully approached the newcomer, that one moment later turned toward them with a big, innocent smile.

«Are you all right?» she said with a very infant and cheerful tone

«Who… what are you?» asked the Captain

«It's been a while since I began to walk across this region, and this is not the first time I see those Turig attack the convoys. They steal everything they can before killing everyone and disappear in their stinking shelters, and they were about to do it even with you.»

Then, the little girl took a strange and some sort epic pose, rising her hammer and rotating it in the air.

«Fortunately, you've met the pure, sacred and holy demigoddess Tymlin.»

The soldiers looked at her, stunned and a bit perplexed.

«A… demigoddess?» Rizzoli repeated

«Of course! In front of you there is the powerful Apostle of Mighty Vulcan, Lord of the Arthronk Mountains! I'm his hammer of justice, his devoted servant among the mortals. And obviously, I'm the cutest and most beautiful girl you could find in all of Falmart!»

«Vulcan?!» replied Sadee. «The dwarven God of Fire? It's a dead cult.»

«It's not dead!» said an offended Tymlin. «It's just been only… forgotten a bit. And I'm here to spread it once again in all this world.»

«Good luck, then. To my knowledge, even the most ancient and retrograde Dwarf Tribes don't follow Vulcan's cult anymore.»

«I'll make them believe once again! After all, I'm its apostle! I have the sacred duty to pursue all the ones that have lost their faith to find it again!»

The soldiers looked each other.

«Well, good luck then» Lunardi said. «Thanks for your help, but now we must really go.»

«Not so fast!» she loudly replied. «This matter is not over yet!»

«What!?»

«The truth is that it's not a coincidence that I found myself right here at the moment.»

Then, Tymlin took a strange gimmick from her belt, one of those strange wooden toys with a hammer and a ball, connected each other by a thin wire.

«The other day I walked along this canyon just like you, but shortly after having crossed it I found out that I had lost this.»

«A… toy!?» said Stefanini

«This is not a toy! This is a sacred relic!»

The soldiers' glances to hear that thing were more eloquent than any words.

«It's true! This belonged to the last Vulcan's Apostle, the Mighty Bakkra!»

«And where in the world would you have found a so precious relic?» replied an almost sarcastic Sadee.

«I bought it by a relics seller in Madenia.»

Once again, Lunardi and his men's eyes were more than enough to express their thoughts.

«A relics… seller!?» repeated Radoni

«What are those faces?! Anyway, I searched it for three days, and finally, this morning, in the exact moment that I managed to find it, I've heard you and I've come to your aid.»

«I… I understand…» replied a wordless Lunardi. «And then?»

«Don't you see it? It's been my great ancestor Bakkra who brought us together! She made me lose her relic so that I could reach you and save you from those marauders!»

«I'm sure it's just a coincidence.»

«It's not a coincidence! It's the will of the Gods! The will of Vulcan! You're the proof of his power! So, now you must come with me and assist me in preaching his glory in all this land!»

«Ehm… no, thanks.»

«What!?» Tymlin replied showily opening her eyes

«Listen to me little girl, we are grateful for your help, but at the moment we don't have time to follow you.»

«But you are the proof! You must come with me! You…»

«Don't you hear that?» said an irritated Torrisi. «Search for someone else to torment with your ravings.»

Hearing those words the little girl seemed to become really angry, at the point that someone of the soldiers instinctively put a finger on the trigger.

«What did you just say?» she said while rising up her hammer again

«Ok, ok!» quickly said Lunardi. «There's no need to be so cynical. What my man wanted to say is that we're currently involved in a very important mission, so we don't have time to come with you or to help you.»

So, the little girl apparently calmed, putting down her massive weapon and taking a more cheerful and innocent tone once again.

«A mission? What kind of mission?»

«I cannot tell you, but you can know that we're heading to Calibria. We've received orders to guide our guests to the city by tomorrow, so we must go as fast as possible.»

Tymlin looked at him, then she smiled joyfully.

«In this case, then I'll come with you.»

«What!?» replied an astonished Captain

«I don't know who we are, but clearly you have the favor of Vulcan, since he sent me here to help you. Probably my Lord wants that you accomplish your mission, then is my sacred duty to assure that you meet your fate.»

«I'm sorry, but we absolutely cannot take you with us.» firmly answered Lunardi

«And why not?» she sorrowfully asked

«I don't doubt of your valor, but we have some rules, and the first of them is quite restrictive about the approaches with the people of this land.»

«What means this!? You travel with an elf and a pointed ears, and you make stories for a mighty apostle!?»

«They're an exception. I cannot explain you right now. As I said, we have other priorities.»

«You can say it for sure, Captain!» Rizzoli shouted from the wall of rocks. «One for all, to find a way to cross this goddamn barricade.»

Lunardi then reached the wall himself, disconsolately staying to watch that massive mountain of rocks which completely blocked the passage toward the canyon.

«We have some C4» said Rocco. «It should be more than enough to clear the route.»

«I would prefer not to waste our poor reserves for such things. They could prove to be useful in other occasions» then he turned toward Sadee. «Are there any other routes to cross the canyon?»

«Yes, but they're quite far. We should come back along the Flaminia and then take the Pilgrims Way across the hills.»

«Is it a long deviation?»

«I suppose yes.»

Then, Tymlin approached Lunardi once again, pursuing him to look at her.

«Do you want to make a bet?»

«A bet!?»

«If I resolve your problem, then you'll take me with you. All right?»

All the soldiers looked each other, while a strange and almost sarcastic silence fulfilled the air, then Lunardi replied.

«Ok. If you want, you can go for it.»

«Very well.» the little girl said with a big smile.

At that point Tymlin reached the wall, and after having said to the soldiers to stay behind she raised up her hammer, proving to be able to use it with an incredible agility despite its huge size. The little girl took a deep breath, and at last she violently struck, provoking a little earthquake and a gigantic cloud of dust, forcing Lunardi and the others to cover their faces; then, when they managed to see again, that massive barricade had disappeared, and in its place there were only crumbled rocks.

«Done.» Tymlin said with a huge smile

The Captain and his men remained wordless.

«Ok, I admit it.» Stefanini said. «Maybe she's not just idle chitchat after all.»

Even Lunardi was clearly astonished, but after a brief moment he smiled in complicity while Tymlin approached him once again.

«Maybe we could find an agreement, after all.»

«And so?»

«But you'll follow us only till Calibria. When our mission will end, everyone will take its own way.»

«It seems a good solution to me.»

Lunardi then extended his hand, provoking a puzzled reaction to Tymlin: after all, it was a completely unknown custom in the Special Region.

«What's the meaning of this?» asked the little girl.

«It's their own way to sentence an agreement.» Sadee answered. «You must shake hands with him.»

«Uh, ok.»

Tymlin obeyed, but Lunardi's hand almost broke at that girl's exceptional force.

«Now you have the favor of the Apostle of Vulcan» she said with her usual cheerful tone. «I sense that we'll become good friends, you and me.»

* * *

That was not the first time that the Prime Minister Rigamonti received a Special Region's inhabitant in his office in Montecitorio, but surely that meeting was the most important by far.

In front of him, seated on the other side of the desk, there was a magnificent young woman, more beautiful than anyone else he had ever seen, covered in an elegant, purple tunic, with long, splendid blond hair, grey eyes and a superb pair of wings elegantly portrayed behind her back. At her side there was another girl, younger but equally elegant and beautiful, that for all the time had followed remained silent, only occasionally opening her eyes to survey the situation.

Inside the room, respectfully secluded into a corner, there were even the Prime Minister's personal secretary, the Foreign Minister Ivana Scoleri, the Defense Minister Anselmo Giovanardi and the new Chief of Staff, Gen. Sergio Delneri, which presence gave an even greater importance to that particular encounter.

«Very well.» Rigamonti said. «I think we've reached an agreement. Italy and the Italian people are very grateful to you and your people, Queen Isengardia.»

«It's my people to be in debt with you, Sir» the queen replied. «Thanks to you, Reich stopped its advance, and we Avion have been able to survive a hopeless war. We're all alive because of you, and we'll do everything we can to repay our debt.»

«I can assure you that Italy will do everything will be necessary in order to protect the Ailan Region, and your people will be always welcome both in Castria and in this country. And, of course, we'll be really grateful for the help you've accepted to provide us.»

«Usually we don't give this kind of support to other peoples, but Italy's safety is our own. So, if you need our help in order to protect yourselves, don't hesitate to ask for it.»

The Prime Minister smiled in satisfaction and Minister Giovanardi too; Ivana instead had a completely different, clearly worried expression.

«So, let's summarize the details. You, queen, and a little group of your people, will be authorized to live on this side of the gate. You'll be housed in many bases all around Italy, particularly in the Istrana* and Martina Franca's** bases. You'll have complete freedom inside those places, but in order to leave them you'll need an authorization from the bases' Commanders. Your job will be to guarantee the aerial surveillance of our territory and our waters, and provide support if requested. Occasionally you could be called to operate even in foreign territory, but in any case you'll need to do everything you can in order to avoid to being seen by the civilians.

Is all clear?»

«Yes, sir.»

«And of course, the Avion housed in Castria and enrolled in the Civil Guard will need to take the same duties over there.»

«Obviously. I've already sent them the proper orders, and they're more than happy to cooperate.»

At the point it was time for the official photos, so the Prime Minister and queen Isengaria posed for the secretary and a restricted group of other photographers in a special set-up, with the Avions' coat of arms sided by Italy and the new RAI's ( _Regione ad Amministrazione Italiana***_ ) flags behind them, watched by other ministers.

«What's the meaning of this?» murmured General Delneri. «No one will ever see these photos.»

«Not for now» Giovanardi answered. «But one day, all of this will become public. And when this will happen, Sergio wants everyone to know of his efforts' importance.»

«Maybe he doesn't remember who has done all the work for all these years.»

«We must accept it, my friend. That's the world. We're just mere executors. As they say, the arrows for the soldiers, the work for the Officers, the glory for the Generals.»

Shortly after, the meeting finished, and all the presents left the office.

«Problems, Ivana?» Rigamonti said noting his minister still in her place.

The woman waited for a moment, then approached the desk.

«You know me, Sergio. Usually I don't object your way of act. But if I can, I think that you got carried away in this entire situation.

Winged people as aerial patrols, cobolds and werewolves in service with the police, mermaids and tritons enrolled for surveying the migratory routes.

Don't you see what's happening in Japan? Do you want to have half of the world's Secred Services to conspire inside our borders? This was supposed to remain a secret.»

«This is still a secret, my dear» calmly replied the Prime Minister. «But one day, we'll need to face the truth. Both you and I are well aware of the fact that Japanese are doing the exact same thing; and when the time to play the final game will come, I want to have the best cards in my hand.»

«Motoi's position is becoming more and more difficoult for each passing day since the Japanese mission begun. You don't need to face such useless risks.»

«Useless risks!?» replied an irritated Rigamonti.

Then the Prime Minister took a pile of documents from one of his desk drawers, angrily throwing them in front of Ivana while naming.

«Let's see. Only in the last two months, thanks to your "useless risks", we arrested five mafia bosses, three IS's spies and prevented a terrorist attack. Plus this we saved two migrants' boats close to sink in the Mediterranean, repelled two pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean and "removed" six first class targets along the world.

And you're still here to tell me about "useless risks"?»

Scoleri remained silent, looking at the wooden desk, and soon after Rigamonti calmed down, assuming his composed and respectful pose once again.

«It's true if you say that all this was not planned initially. But after all, we haven't forced these creatures to do all this: they offered us their help spontaneously. And in case you forgot it, we have a duty to fulfill toward this country: Italy's interests are my priority at the moment.»

«Italy's interests… or your owns?» Ivana replied with provocative tone.

Rigamonti however didn't eat the bite, calmly taking the coat from the hanger when his secretary returned to the office to report that the escort was ready to leave.

«This is just semantics. Our job's curse. For now, all I want is simply to spend what remains of my free time in my bed. Good night, Minister.»

At that moment, the pendulum clock near the window announced the midnight, and they both looked at it.

«And have a nice weekend.» Sergio finally said with a smile before leaving the office.

Ivana then remained alone, briefly looking out the window, the city of Rome immersed in sleep.

«Maybe Motoi is not the only naive involved in all this madness, after all.» she murmured disheartened.

* * *

After another day of travel, the final objective was finally close.

The savanna had quickly turned into barren plains burned by the sun, and the air was so hot that it was incredibly difficult for Lunardi and his men to remain with the helmets on their heads, the gloves and the jackets.

«What the hell.» Amato protested. «I thought that Herat was a hell, but this is worse. If I think that at Castria they still walk around with coats and sweater…»

«Not exactly the best climate for a Turinese, or not?» malignantly said Stefanini

«Don't say it. And I've even lost Juve-Tottenham for this goddam mission…»

Since Tymlin needed a lot of space inside the Puma to host her massive hammer, Sadee and other soldiers had moved inside other vehicles, with the elven princess housed together with a wounded Niang aboard Lunardi's VM-90.

«What do you think?» the Captain asked to Sadee turning to his back and seeing the little girl overlooking from the Puma's turret.

«Honestly I don't think that taking her with us was a good idea. But you're in command, you make the decisions.»

«I was talking about her powers. Is she really an apostle?»

Sadee watched her as well, then she seriously turned again toward Lunardi.

«I don't know exactly what she is yet, but I can say for sure what she is not. And she is not a demigoddess or an apostle.»

«How can you be so sure?»

«All apostles emit a particular energy that we elves are able to sense. And I cannot sense anything like that coming from her.»

«And what about her massive force!?» Amato replied. «I mean… did you see that? How the hell is she able to use that hammer? We needed four men to put that goddam thing inside the Puma.»

«Probably she's half-dwarf. It's not a completely uncommon thing in the far North, where humans and dwarfs used to live side by side.»

«Her god… Vulcan» Lunardi said again. «I've never heard about him.»

«It's an ancient cult, native of Malekkrand. He was one of the many dwarfs' gods related to the forge, the handicraft and the stone. There was a time when Vulcan's religion had many followers, even among the humans and the Warrior Bunnies here in the Haqaba Plains, but when Malekkrand has been defeated three centuries ago during the Dwarven Wars the dwarfs from the Mountain Range imposed their gods to the subjugated people, and so…»

«I understand. And so she's trying to give a new life to her faith.»

«Good luck to her. As far as I know, all Vulcan's temples have been destroyed at the end of the war. It's already difficult to push someone to believe, but doing it without a temple or a true apostle is almost impossible. Not to mention Reich.»

Suddenly, after having crossed a low hill, a pale, towering, squared line appeared far on the horizon, proving soon to be an impressive wall built all around a big city. They sprouted from the arid terrain like a diamond from the rocks, as white as pearl, and surrounded by green fields full of grain, and despite the distance it was possible to note the endless number of wagons, chariots and pilgrims walking along the many roads that departed from every door like wires from a cobweb's center.

The column stopped, and many of the soldiers even came down from the vehicles, remained stunned to admire that incredible sight: the end of a long, difficult travel was right in front of them, and it was so beautiful to remain breathless.

«There it is» Sadee said. «Calibria.»

«The Jewel of the Plains.» said Medea.

Lunardi took off his helmet for a moment, without looking away from the city.

«We're finally here. Let's go, Falcon-1! Our journey is almost complete!».

* * *

* **_Istrana:_** Town near Treviso, in the north-eastern region of Italy, with an important Airforce Base

** **_Martina Franca:_** Town near Taranto, in the Southern Italy, with an important Aerial and Naval base.

*** _Special Region under Italian Administration_


	6. The wolf's path

**_Author's notes_**

 _Here I am._

 _Sorry, i said that i took much less time to publish this chapter, but i was really busy to obtain my car license, so almost all of my free time has been spent by the driving lessons._

 _The chapter is a bit much shorter despite the initial plans, but I wanted to save the next paragraph for the sixth._

 _I say thanks to all the ones that red and commented this story, and I suggest you, if you're "valkyria chronicles" fans, to cheek for my channel in the next few days: you could have some suriprises^^_

 _See you soon!^_^_

* * *

5

Following the instruction received from the High Command, after having reached the high hill known as "Hardy's Throne" the Falcon-1 launched a flare in the sky, and in half an hour a little group of horsemen arrived from the city followed by a numerous group of other horses.

Their commander, a young man with a bit of beard, brown hair and a respectable armor, reached the soldiers on the top of the hill, while his men were waiting for him a dozen meters from the column.

«You're the ambassadors from Castria, right?»

«We are. I'm Captain Flavio Lunardi, leader of the Falcon-1 division. These are my soldiers.»

«Welcome to Calibria, Captain. I'm General Aristhes Loughanis, High Commander of Calibria's Army. We began to fear that you wouldn't arrive anymore.»

«We had some problems along the way.» briefly explained the Captain

«I understand. In this case, I'm glad you've been able to arrive here without accidents.

Follow me. We'll enter into de city from the royal family's private door, so no one will see your… chariots.»

The vehicles were covered under some bit, white sheets, and each of them was connected to a couple of hoses with axes and ropes, making them similar to working wagons. Then, slowly, the column departed again, proceeding at a very slow speed make the disguise credible.

As they approached the city, Lunardi and his soldiers were able to completely understand the walls' incredible impressiveness: they were enormous, almost bigger than Rome's ones, slightly slanted to successfully reject projectiles and provided with square towers equipped with ballista, catapults and other war instruments, proving the city's tradition and familiarity with the war.

«You're well equipped, if I may» said Lunardi

«War is a common word in the Haqaba Plains» Aristhes answered from his horse while proceeding towards the VM-90's side. «The cities are always at war each other for the control of the resources of the respective areas, like gold, silver and stone. We needed to protect our city and our interests.»

«And what about the farms and other activities outside the walls?» Stefanini asked

«We have plenty of patrols around the region, and a certain number of watch posts along the main roads, each of them provided with bells and special torches to signal an incoming menace.»

«When was the last time you fought?» Amato asked

«Excluding occasional skirmishes, last time was almost three years ago, immediately before the Empire's attack against the Plains. In that occasion all the cities decided to put apart their differences and cooperate, so we've been able to stop Prince Zorzal's invasion.»

«Unfortunately, Warrior Bunnies haven't been as lucky as you.» replied Sadee

«We share the Plains with them since ancient times. We offered them to join us in the war, but those pointed ears are incredibly stubborn. They refused to cooperate, and at last they payed for it.»

After they crossed the enormous doors of the city, the squad begun to walk along a wide avenue, surrounded from both sides by an endless sequence of majestic and luxurious buildings; the style was essential and exquisite at the same time, with many columns and painted walls, which gave a vague Doric style to the buildings and to the city in general.

«It almost seems to me to be in Matera.» said a nostalgic Rizzoli.

«You're right.» replied Valenti. «Or in Mycenae.»

The royal palace was located on the top of a low hill, clearly visible from every corner of Calibria, overlooking the main and biggest square of the city provided in her center with a big, enormous statue representing Inkraya, the Plains' Goddess of the Sun.

When the column reached the square, the soldiers found a couple of persons waiting for them in front of the palace's main entrance. There was an aged sage leaning on his long magic scepter and a young, gentle woman with long, pale hair dressed as a High Sage.

«Captain.» Aristhes said referring to the aged man with the beard. «I introduce you the court's mage Lady Anthelea and the Magic School's high chief, Wise Pharmeneon.»

The soldiers then stood at attention in front of them.

«Captain Flavio Lunardi, of the Esercito Italiano, leader of the Falcon-1 Division. These are my soldiers.»

«Welcome to Calibria» said Lady Anthelea. «I hope you had a good trip.»

«So-so, my Lady. The important thing is that we're finally here.»

«So you're the ones who aim to obtain the access to the secrets of our world» said the old Mage. «As General Deiphobos Said, I'm the Director of Calibria's Magic School and first guardian of its ancient library. Plus this, I will be the main referee to the challenge of wisdom in which you will compete.»

«It's a Pleasure, Wise Pharmenon» Sadee said. «You're being really kind to accept our request.»

«Wait to thank us, young elf.» kindly but firmly said Lady Anthelea «The challenge awaiting you will not be easy at all. The mages of Calibria are incredibly proud of their wisdom and their secrets, and will do everything they can in order to protect them.»

«Correct. Our best mages have put all of their efforts in studies since when they learned of this challenge, and most of them are more than anxious to prove their wisdom even to the inhabitants of another world.

So, who are your champions?»

Sadee then stepped forward.

«I'm the first one. I'm Sadee Lonia Taleya, daughter of Navaraf Parsath, chief of the Arlea Forest's High Elves.»

«I knew your father, and I'm aware of your tribe's fate.» said Anthelea. «He helped me a lot during my training. I'm really sorry for your loss.»

«Thank you so much for your words, Lady Anthelea.»

«And who's the other one?» Pharmenon asked

For a moment, a cloud of silence filled the square, while the soldiers looked each other almost fearful.

Then, one of the Warrior Bunnies with them advanced.

«I'm the other one. I'm professor Giuseppe Radoni, from the Royal University of Cambridge, ready to represent my Country and my people in this challenge.»

The two mages remained stunned, and a complete disbelief was clearly visible in their eyes.

«Are you joking us?» said the Director clearly disappointed

«It's not a joke, great wizard» said Medea. «And we not intend to offend you. Please, let me explain the situation.»

Then, briefly but clearly, the young girl reported what happened to the professor and the reasons behind his, her actual aspect, while Pharmenon and Anthelea's glances became more and more stunned.

«And these are the facts.»

«I understand» Anthelea said. «That's the way it is.»

«If I can» the Director replied with a very less understanding tone. «I find it a quite fetched story. No mage with a bit of common sense would use such a dangerous potion for the first time without even testing it.»

«Unfortunately, common sense is an unknown word to the Warrior Bunnies.» mourned Radoni

«You can trust my words, High Dean, in the name of wise Yeralis, my aunt and teacher.»

Hearing that name, both wizards remained speechless.

«Are you Dean Yeralis' nephew!?»

«Yes» Medea replied showing her baton. «And this scepter is the proof of my words. The one she received from the school when she completed her novitiate.»

Pharmeon carefully looked the baton, proving that it was effectively Yeralis' one.

«It seems that you're telling the truth, after all.»

«Will you let professor Radoni face the challenge, then?»

«Personally, I wouldn't have any problem to accept the situation, but you must understand that all the most respected and known mages of the Plains will assist to the challenge, and despite all this our school has a reputation to preserve.»

«Forgive my rudeness, dean» said Lunardi, respectfully but firmly. «But what kind of reputation could be so retrograde to be put in danger by a Warrior Bunny?»

«I'm not a Warrior Bunny!» replied Radoni. «I simply resemble one of them!»

«We're familiar with these kind of problems, dean» said again Lunardi. «Our country is constantly populated by many races and cultures, and racism is widely common in every aspect of daily life» then he looked a still wounded Niang and soldier Marco Wang, a first generation's Sino-Italian from Prato. «But I can assure you, and you can see it by yourself, that it's not a matter of race. It's the spirit and the strong will to respect his own duties that count in making someone a respectable and trusty person.»

The Dean, Aristhes and Anthelea looked each other, almost ashamed for their own prejudices.

«It's not a matter of racism, Captain» tried to explain Aristhes. «As I told you, we share our lands with the Warrior Bunnies since the most ancient times, but just for this, this city's inhabitants truly believe that they're a barbaric and retrograde race.»

«And even if I'm ashamed to say it» said Anthelea. «Even most of the mages inside our school think the same thing. If the voice about the fact that a Warrior Bunny has been allowed to face a challenge inside the school's lecture hall should spread, the school's name could be compromised forever, not to speak about what could happen in the case that she will manage to prevail.»

«I'll speak to the Council» said the dean at that point. «I'll explain them the situation. Maybe, if I give my word and bring my reputation at stake, they'll accept to let the professor face the challenge.»

«Thank you for your time, dean.» replied Sadee

«I'll come with you, Dean» said Medea. «I'll explain them our reasons, and with your help maybe they'll listen to me.»

«In the meantime, follow me.» said Aristhes while the Dean was leaving the square to come back to the school. «I'll introduce you to the king.»

* * *

To not create even more problems Lunardi ordered to most of his soldiers to stay in the courtyard, while Sadee, Stefanini, Rizzoli and himself followed Anthelea and Aristhes along the palace till the throne room.

The room, as the rest of the palace, was truly wonderful, with the appropriate decorations to express power but not excessive opulence, as expected by a city whose primary goal was to prove her might without appearing to the other cities as a temple of lust and immorality.

The walls and the roofs of most of the rooms were covered in frescoes, while the floor was all an entire mosaic representing hunting scenes, magical beings, Calibria's daily lives and many aspects of the royal family's common duties.

In all that things one was able to easily note the main difference between the Empire and the Plains, probably the most fearsome enemy the Empire ever faced till the arrival of the JSDF: a strong will forged by the difficulties of the Plains sided by an uncommon adaptability, able to create something good and magnificent even in the most inhospitable land.

The throne room was massive and really big, but incredibly simple: two rows of columns, holding up the roof departed from the entrance, arriving till the little platform where the throne was located, sided by two life-size statues of goddess Inkaria and her husband Akureo, and immediately behind it there was a big window opened toward the heart of the city.

King Deiphobos, the fifty-four years old ruler of Calibria, was a very tall but even a bit fat man, with a very well-trimmed beard covered in lard and lung, brown hair; in addition to the golden bracelets and the hands full of rings, he was dressed in a gaudy long tunic and wore a golden crown with a bid diamond, to testify his role and his power as ruler of the most powerful city of the entire Plains.

When the group of newcomers approached the platform, the king nodded to his advisors, ordering them to leave him alone with the strangers.

«My welcome to you, Singing People.» he said when they remained alone

«It's a pleasure to meet you, great king.» respectfully said Lunardi saluting him with his men

«I've spent my time imagining what could be your appearance, my friends. The echoes of your might has reached even these far lands.»

«We're honored, Your Majesty.»

«There are many opinions. Someone says you're demigods, someone else thinks you're demons» then the king took an enigmatic expression. «So? What are you? Gods, demons, or something else?»

Lunardi and his man remained silent, while a strange atmosphere filled the room.

«We're just normal soldiers who serve their home country, great king.» finally answered the Captain.

Hearing that, the king smiled in satisfaction, a strange smile that almost worried Lunardi.

«Very well. A soldier is a soldier, no matter what instruments or weapons he wields. Calibria will be happy to be your home for all time you'll spend here.»

«We're really grateful for your kindness, Your Majesty.»

At that point the king raised a hand, and immediately after a servant offered to him, and to all the other ones, a chalice of superb red wine.

«So, let's call for a toast. To an happy and long-lasting cooperation between your people and Calibria. May our upcoming friendship be as big and wide as the plains themselves. Cheers!»

«Cheers!» said the soldiers, Anthelea and Aristhes.

* * *

At the end, Lunardi and the others was able to leave the palace after almost two hours, since the king asked to know as much as possible about their people and the world beyond the gate.

At least, when they finally returned to the courtyard, they found Dean Pharmeon waiting for them together with Radoni, Medea and all the others.

«So?» asked Lunardi with no courtesies. «What did they say?»

«They were more than offended, but at least I've been able to pursue them to accept a compromise.»

«What kind of compromise?»

«They say that they cannot completely trust my words only because I'm Dean Yealis' nephew.»

«And so?» asked Stefanini

«Professor Radoni will sustain an exam.»

«An exam!?» Sadee repeated. «Even if he's not a mage?»

«They'll make an exception» explained Pharmeon. «The professor will be treated like an ordinary student. He'll write a dissertation to present to the council during an official exam, and if he'll manage do obtain the title of Wise then he'll be allowed to face the challenge with Lady Sadee.»

«A dissertation!?» replied Radoni «And how should I do it?»

«It's not so different from Earth.» Sadee said «You read the books, write a thesis, then you present it.»

«I know it. I mean, how should I write it? I don't have enough books with me.»

«You'll be admitted to the first level of our library» answered Pharmeon. «You can read all third class books and use them for your work.»

«It seems to be back to the first year…» mourned an almost depressed Radoni

There was a complete disbelief among the soldiers.

«What should we do, Captain?» asked Amato. «This thing promises to be quite long.»

«I suppose we have no choice.» Lunardi replied. «This was a no-time mission, so we don't have a time limit to fulfill it. We'll stay here until professor Radoni and Sadee will be able to take the challenge, if anything they'll be able to do it.»

Amato and the others were clearly not happy to see the mission's duration lengthen indefinitely, but what else could they do apart from obey?

«Here goes our Christmas license, I suppose.» said a discomforted Rizzoli

Lunardi turned toward Aristhes.

«Is there a place where we can stay for now?»

«Sure. King Deiphobos has put the tower n.12 to your complete disposal. It's the nearest to the palace, and it's provided with all comforts. Professor and Lady Sadee, instead, will be allowed to live in the school's dormitory.»

«Thank you so much» the Captain answered. «In the meantime, I want a radio station fully operational as soon as possible. If the analogic system will be finally put in action, we must be able to make contact with Calibria to inform the HQ about the new circumstances.»

«Yes, sir!» the soldiers replied.

* * *

The Ninth Legion, also known as Legio IX "Invicta", was unofficially the Viceroy's Royal Guard, and was considered the best trained and prepared armored force in the northern region.

For this, it had been spared from the catastrophic expedition beyond the Gate, while the rest of the northern army was still under reconstruction in order to give the kingdom back a proper defense as fast as possible, before someone in the far north could note the dangerous lack in defense inside the Empire.

Then, choose the Invicta for that special task, more than a choice, was a necessity, and despite his fame and ability as general, for Agrippa that was the first time at command of a so great respected and powerful legion.

In a couple of days the soldiers had been regrouped, and now the Ninth, camped right outside Padavium, was ready to depart.

Counting even the supplies, the carts full of gifts and the other things, that morning Agrippa, mounting on his horse, was able to see more than five thousand men behind him, ready to follow him in the most dangerous journey to make contact with an obscure, and in a some way even evil power which had already destroyed more than half of the Imperial Army.

The Invicta's most respected officer was the _Primus Pilus_ Laerte Druso Sempione, commander of the legion's first line, the "mortifers", a forty-three veteran with more than thirty expeditions beyond the Empire's borders, completely loyal to Kanaria at the point to have been considered in a first time as a possible husband of the Vicequeen.

His appearance was fearful but admirable, like a true soldier of the Empire, with red, short hair, dark eyes and many scars, the biggest part of them hiden by the vest and the armor.

«Legion at your order, sir!» he said saluting the upcoming general

Agrippa then turned the horse toward the soldiers, still motionless and fielded like an army of statues.

«Soldiers! I will not lie to you! The truth is that no one knows toward what we're going! The only thing we know is that the Green People have destroyed almost all of our army in just two battles! No one can say what their intentions are, but they're more powerful and outstanding than everything you have seen in all your life! Our job is to be sure that they'll not try harming our land! We started this war, and we must make it end, because this is an enemy that we simply cannot defeat, a cruel but incontestable truth of which you are well aware, since you've heard the news from the Midlands just like me!

We're going to them as enemies in search for a dialogue! But if they'll refuse to listen to our reasons, then I want you to remember what your duty is! For the Empire, and for the North, we'll fulfill our duties, in one way or another!»

The entire legion exulted producing a devastating echo that almost made Padavium's walls collapse, but even before Agrippa was able to lower his sword, senator Valeriano reached him aboard a luxurious litter transported by two slave werewolves.

«A nice speech, General» he cynically said. «But for our sake, pray that the Vicequeen's right, and that they'll accept our excuses, or we could be witnesses of the Empire's end by hand of those demons.»

«They're not demons. They're human beings, like you and me.» Agrippa said without turn. «And since they're humans, they can die if pierced by a lance.»

The senator smiled again, a malignant smile that almost frightened Agrippa.

«They say that not a single soldier among the fifty thousand that fought at Arnus has been able to arrive two-thousand foots close to the gate. And I don't think you have so long lances, General Agrippa.»

The general remained silent, while a strange and sinister tremor ran along his spine.

Shortly after, the legion left the city, watched by the Vicequeen from the palace's main balcony.


	7. Men and Faith

**_Notes_**

 _Hi to everyone^^_

 _First of all, a necessary precisation. This chapter has been written for the biggest part between June 20th and 30th, so any reference and any possibly recall to real events occurred in the last days is completely fortuitous._

 _Once again, thank you so much to all the readers and rewievers. You're fantastic^^_

 _ **MWKillkenny:**_ _Per quello dovrai aspettare un po', ma abbi fiducia, succederà^^_

 _See you soon!^_^_

* * *

6

Seeing it from the base, the tower granted by the king to Falcon-1 was even more massive and impressive.

In its inside there was everything one could need: a kitchen, three dormitories, and even a dining room: and obviously there were even an armory, covered windows and a direct connection with the roof and the walls.

«Magnificent.» commented Stefanini

«I think we could put our remote antenna on the top of the tower.» said Rizzoli. «From up there, we should be free from any sort of interference.»

«Very well» replied Lunardi. «Do it. I want to have the signal as soon as possible. And provide a continuous surveillance on the radio. If they manage to create this goddam signal, I want to be the first one to know it.»

«The tower has been completely rebuilt only three months ago» said Aristhes. «There's an underground room directly connected to the palace with a secret passage. The walls are eight feats thick, and the stone maintains a good temperature on the inside.» then he smiled. «Almost better than a nobleman's house.»

«Thank you, Captain. Your hospitality is truly appreciated.»

«We heard of your power. I suppose the king aims to make a good impression to you in order to gain a special relationship with your people. Calibria is a powerful city, but all other cities are against us, so we're in constant search for allies.»

«I understand. Obviously, I cannot make promises, but I swear you I'll make an honest report to my commanders where I'll put the emphasis about your hospitality and support to us.»

«Yay!» suddenly shouted Tymlin. «And now, it's time for some shopping!»

«We don't go anywhere, Tymlin» replied Lunardi. «Our orders are clear. No one must know our true identity.»

«If this is your problem, don't worry.» Anthelea said. «For this city's inhabitants, the strangers are all similar. If you don't do anything that could attracting attention, no one will find out who you really are.»

«Are you sure?» Medea answered. «Even if I'm… well…»

«Calibria gave refuge to a great number of Warrior Bunnies after the last war.» said Aristhes «They live for the bigger part in their own neighborhood near to the northern door, but it's absolutely common to see them along the streets, so you too have no need to worry.»

«I understand. Thank you so much.»

«It's nothing. And sorry for what I said earlier about your people.»

«No. You were right. If we had been less proud, and accepted to cooperate with you, maybe our people would survive.»

«The Empire is an enemy for both of us» said Anthelea. «But for now, don't think about this. Professor Radoni has an important quest to face, and the council has decided that you and Lady Sadee will be allowed to help him.»

«Really!?»

«Let's say that there's someone in the Council that would be really happy to put an end to the school's fanaticism and obscurantism, and a Warrior Bunny's victory both in a school's exam and in an official challenge would be a good incentive to start a real change.»

«Thank you so much, Lady Anthelea. I'll do my best to help the professor.»

«Very well.» said Aristhes to Lunardi. «Now I leave you to your things. I suppose you have much to do.»

«Wait a moment» the Captain said before they could leave. «Do you have an Avion among your people?»

* * *

Lunardi and his soldiers needed almost the entire day to prepare the tower for all of their needs and stow their equipment.

The vehicles were housed in one of the royal barns, with precise dispositions from Aristhes that no one was admitted to enter without his permission or Lunardi's one.

At the twilight, the work was done. Thanks to a diesel generator it had been possible to install a simple electric system, providing the tower with the light and energy for the computer systems.

«You've done good work, soldiers.» Lunardi said at the end of the works. «The evening is yours. Have fun!»

«Yay!» loudly said Tymlin. «And after the work, it's party time!»

«Come to think of, why're you still here? The terms were clear if you remember, you were supposed to follow us only till the city.»

«Of course! But now I must do my duty as apostle! I must spread the cult of mighty Vulcan among the mortals, and this city is surely the best place to begin!»

«That's not the point.» Stefanini replied. «The Captain wanted to ask you why you're still here among us. The city is quite big, find a place to stay for yourself.»

«I could, but since I have not a single coin, I suppose that the only choice is to accept your gentle hospitality.»

«I don't remember we ever offered you our hospitality. And plus this, I already said you that I will not share my room with anyone, especially you.»

«Would you really leave this cute, sweet girl all alone with all those horny men?» Tymlin replied taking a provocative pose that was completely out of place for her childish figure. «I'm an apostle, I cannot lead humans in temptation.»

«As if we could be tempted» silently laughed Rizzoli from a window of the tower. «We could be sentenced for pedophilia.»

«Enough» said Lunardi. «We cannot deny that Tymlin gave us a big help in preparation of the tower, not counting her support in repelling the assault in the desert. So, I think that a reward would not be a crime, even if it will be barely the opportunity to live here with us.»

«Really!?» loudly said the little girl. «Thank you so much, Capitano!»

«But I must ask you to not disturb my soldiers' work. You can live and rest here in the tower, but during the day you'll have to leave till evening.»

«Of course! There are plenty of souls to save in this city! I'll not be workless for sure!»

«As always» mourned Stefanini. «She wins every time.»

«Who knows» cheerfully said Amato. «Maybe our commander has some sort of lolita complex.»

«I heard you, Amato. Do you want to spend your first license in patrolling?»

«Aye aye, sir…»

«Ok, boys! Niang, Wang, Cassetti and Rocco will stay here to guard of the HQ! The other ones, I want you back by midnight! Dismissed!»

«Hurray!» shouted all ones.

* * *

After Medea, Sadee and Radoni had taken her place in the magic school's dormitory, obviously all the three of them in the female one, the young wizard decided to pay a visit to the tower.

When she arrived, however, all the ones blessed with the off duty had already left, while the only three left were standing everyone on his own, making the strangest things.

Soldier Wang was occupied in some sort of training, performing astonishing martial arts with superb elegance and deadly precision at the same time; soldier Cassetti was kneeled to the tower's wall, with the eyes closed and the hands clasped around a strange necklace provided with a cross.

Finally, Niang, finally free from the bandages, was standing in front of a little mat with no shoes and the eyes to the ground, he too with the hands clasped and the necklace around them, but without the cross. Medea silently approached him, being able to hear the strange words he was murmuring, almost singing.

«Every glory to the Lord, supreme ruler of all the worlds / The compassionate, the merciful / The ruler of the end of the days / We beg for you, we ask for your help / Lead us along the right way.»

Then, he prostrated on the mat.

«Allāhu Akbar.»

It was so suggestive, so struggling that Medea almost lost herself in looking it.

«They're praying» someone suddenly said behind her, almost making her die of fear

«Are you sure you don't want to be a Warrior Bunny? You would be a wonderful assassin.»

Both of them then looked again at the three soldiers, which despite the noises hadn't interrupted their prayers.

«And… that?» Medea said pointing her finger to Wang. «Is that also… a pray?»

«Every cult has its own way to create a connection with the spiritual world» replied Radoni. «In front of you there are the three main religions of our world. The Christians, the Islam, and the Buddhism.»

«So, there are many cults even in your world.»

«Sure. But cohabitation has been quite difficult through history.»

«Why!? We also have many cults and religions, even among the same races. Of course, there have been some religious wars in ages, but now everyone is free of pray the god he prefers.»

«Things are a bit different. In our world, almost every religion has one single God, and each of them claims to be the sole God, and calls those who follow another cult "infidels". Many wars have been fought for this reason, and many others are fought every day in every place of Earth.»

«I… don't understand. You seem so advanced and wise. So why do you fight each other for such a poor affair?»

Radoni remained silent for a moment, not knowing how to answer.

«It's… complicated. In our country, anyone can pray to the God he wants, but in many other places it's different. Plus this, our religions are quite ambiguous. They speak of peace and fraternity, but at the same time each of them pretend to become the sole religion among all men. And this is the reason behind many of the wars which currently burn in our world.»

Medea looked again Niang and the others, smiling in happiness.

«But you're different. The proof is here in front of me. And for me, this is enough to trust you.»

Radoni too appeared to smile, but in a blink of an eye his expression dramatically changed.

«But enough talk! Master Pharmenon says that your auntie's studies were based for the bigger part on some books in the lower section of the library, the same one we want reach to conduct our proper researches. One more reason to pass this goddam exam and win the challenge. This means that you will help me too! Come on!»

«Wait… what!? What are you saying!? Ouch! Ehi, stop pulling my ear! It hurts! Where are you taking me?»

* * *

Lunardi thought that General Pedersoli needed to be warned about the unexpected change of plans, but think to send someone of his squad back to Castria was simply impossible.

Fortunately, the Avion's flight speed was almost incredible.

Despite there were almost 1.000 kilometers between Calibria and Castria, the young Sagriph, one of Commander Aristhes' most trustful soldiers, managed to complete his journey in less than two days, taking only a couple of hours to rest halfway through the trip.

Thanks to the signal code learned from Flavio, Sagriph managed to pass through the powerful surveillance system of towers, cameras and guards built all around the city, and less than one hour after his arrival he was already in the General's office.

«I understand» Pedersoli said after reading the letter. «This is undoubtedly an unexpected change of plans. Thanks for coming this far, mister Sagriph.»

«It's a pleasure, sir.» the young soldier respectfully answered.

Then, the General took a sheet of paper and began to write a missive himself using his old, dear fountain pen, the same one with whom he had signed the final authorization for Operation Columbus.

 _To the Falcon-1 Division's Commander, Cpt. Lunardi,_

 _I received your message._

 _Obviously this implies an inevitable change of plans. Since the government and the Supreme Command of this mission consider your one a primary task, your objective doesn't change._

 _You'll stay at Calibria until professor Radoni will be allowed to sustain his exam and, eventually, the challenge to gain access to the school's secret library._

 _Unfortunately, I must warn you that our first test with the analogic system has gone wrong, and the forest still blocks all of your radio signals. The chief engineers have decided to try to implement the power of the signal installing some antennas, but we're still searching for the right places to place them._

 _Even the construction of the airport is going rather slow, since we've been forced to assign more units to patrol missions; it seems that Reich is preparing to move once again, since our spies report of a new recruiting campaign in the main cities of the empire. We don't know what their purpose is yet, but we cannot exclude a second attempt of conquest against Castria._

 _In order to avoid the spread of panic among your soldiers or the same people of Calibria, I command you not to share the content of this letter with anyone else. As soon as possible I'll try to contact you in order to give you more clear information about these new Reich's movements._

 _The Commander of Operation Columbus_

 _General Pedersoli_

The general put the letter into an envelope, closing it with an adhesive stamp.

«Deliver this letter to my Captain, and wish him the best luck from his General.»

«Consider it done.» replied Sagriph while putting the letter into his travel bag

«One more thing.» Pedersoli said again showing him a new paper. «I must ask you to sign this document. With this, you swear to never speak to anyone about this place, or whatever you saw or heard inside Castria.»

«Yes, I know. I've been informed about this ritual» the young Avion replied.

Then, he took up a feather from his own wings, and pricking a finger he used the same feather to sign the document using his blood.

«As our traditions command, I seal my word with my blood and soul.»

Sometime later, the Avion departed once again, refusing any offer or reward for his work apart some food and water to sustain him along the road.

* * *

Tymlin said she wanted to use Calibria as a starting point to give new hope to her faith, but for the first days she spent almost all of her time in doing all things one could expect from a preteen.

Like many other little girls, she loved to play, especially with other children, and apart from her massive force she had absolutely nothing different from an ordinary child.

And Lunardi, much to some of his soldiers' disappointment, was quite permissive with her, tolerating much of her spontaneity and hyperactivity, but the definitive proof of the almost impressive influence that she had on him arrived one week later than Falcon-1's arrival at Calibria.

Near the city's main square there was a little rounded stage, used by the orators to announce proclaims or edicts to the crowd or by philosophers and priests to explain their theories and dogmas during a debate. Sometime it was used even for public trials, since by Calibria's law most of the common crimes, from robbery to rape, were put under the supreme judgment of a jury made by the same crowd.

Finally, overcoming an unusual shyness, one morning Tymlin accepted to try to speak to the crowd that filled the square for the weekly traveling market.

Unfortunately, she proved soon to be completely inexpert in such things, and despite all of her efforts almost no one stopped to hear her sermons about Vulcan's life and legendary power.

«It's useless…» she sorrowfully said while walking together with Lunardi and Stefanini along the Merchants' Road. «Not a single conversion, a doubt. Neither a simple question.»

«What did you expect?» Stefanini said to herself. «You're not even able put ten words in the same phrase. It almost seemed like I was listening an elementary school's debate instead of a religious sermon.»

«They say that even a speech is a form of art» Lunardi replied. «Not at all, the ancient Romans used to call it the _Ars Retorica_ , or the Art of Speak. Maybe, if you would improve your ability to speak, you could be able to gather a crowd and have an audience.»

«Captain, you're pretending a bit too much, don't you think?» said Stefanini. «Did you forget you're talking to a child?»

«How many times do I have to say it!?» replied the little girl clearly offended. «I'm not a child! I'm apostle Tymlin, faithful servant of Mighty Vulcan!»

«Yeah, yeah. But if you don't find quickly someone who at least will listen to you, I fear that your cult will have a very short life.»

At a certain point, all three entered in a little, circular plaza not far from the main gate of the walls, dominated by an old, ruined building similar to an ancient Greek temple. Judging from the high columns, the reliefs and the imposing staircase, it had once been the home of an important cult, but now it was nothing more than a ruin ready to collapse.

«What a fantastic temple.» said Lunardi. «This world is much more developed than we could initially imagine.»

«It surely knew better times.» said Stefanini

«This is a dwarf temple» Tymlin replied. «I recognize the style of building.»

«Excuse me» the Captain asked an old beggar that sat near the fountain giving him some coins. «To which deity was this temple devoted?»

«To Vulcan, the Dwarf God of Flames and Forge.»

«What!?» Tymlin exclaimed. «Was this really Vulcan's temple!?»

«So there was a time when Vulcan was worshiped even here in the Plains?»

«Of course. Calibria has a long tradition in metallurgical sciences, so Vulcan had many adepts, but when the cult of the imperial deity Gaslia reached our city, Vulcan's followers begun to disappear, and the Dwarf Wars did the rest. At last, when the last Vulcan's abbot died fifty years ago without successors, Vulcan's cult died with him. Now that ruin is just a refuge for beggars and thieves.»

«It's so sad» said a melancholic Tymlin. «To see mighty Vulcan's glorious house in such state.»

But then, the fire of passion burned once again in her eyes.

«I have decided! I'll rebuild this temple!»

«Rebuild the temple!?» repeat Stefanini clearly stunned

«You said that: I need to find a way to recreate the cult of Vulcan in this city. If I rebuild my lord's house, then all the people of Calibria will have a place to pray for his power and benevolence once again. And you will help me!»

«Eh!?» Stefanini jumped

«You're the proof of Vulcan's might! You're practically his apostles in this world, just like me! Your efforts in rebuild this temple will be the proof of my lord's benevolence and his strong will to restore his cult in this city.»

«Again!? This is becoming an obsession. Do you want understand or not that we're not the goddam apostles you say. Our meeting in the desert was just a coincidence, and nothing more. Plus this, we're soldiers, not carpenters, and we have too much work to waste our time in this…

«Done.» Lunardi said with no hesitations

«What!?»

«You won, Tymlin. We'll help you to rebuild the temple.»

«Really!?» she cheerfully said

«But when the works will be over, you'll move from the tower to the temple, and you'll spend all of your time to oblige your duties as apostle, agree?»

«Yes, obviously!»

«Captain!» shouted Stefanini. «Stop to kneel before this brat!»

«Our job was supposed to be short-lived, but now it's clear that we'll need to stay here much longer. And for me, you have too much free time lately. A bit of work will keep all of you in exercise, and will help us to make time pass.»

«Thank you so much, Flavio! You're truly a Vulcan's apostle!»

* * *

That night, as always, the guards were mounting guard along the walls.

At a certain hour, the city's doors were closed, and after midnight the entirety of Calibria, apart from the usual religious festivities, faded in sleep and darkness.

Despite the tremendous hot that usually burned the Plains during the day, night temperatures were able to drop almost to 0°, and especially the region of Calibria was well known for its incredibly cold nights, especially during the last months of the year.

From one of the towers' summit, one of the soldiers was mounting guard, trying as much as the companion alongside him to search for the most little sign of danger in the hills and fields outside the walls, almost completely covered in a darkness and barely illuminated by the stars' light.

«Wake up.» he said seeing his partner close to fall asleep to the ground. «We're not on vacancy.»

Suddenly, a light appeared about three hundred meters far from the walls, but in the time the sentinel took to understand its meaning it sat off lightning to the sky, before coming down and hitting the wooden column of the roof's canopy, revealing to be a flaming arrow.

«It's an attack!» someone shouted, and immediately most of the guards, for the biggest part young recruits at their first assignment, begun to shoot against the invisible enemy.

«Hold your fire!» shouted the first sentinel after having noted a piece of scroll rolled up around the arrow. «It's a message!»

Then he took it, but before he could try to open it or doing something else Aristhes reached them attracted by the bustle.

«What's happening?»

«Someone launched this message from the plains, Captain.» the sentinel answered giving the paper to the Captain.

The scroll was sealed with a wax stamp, but there were no signs or insignias; Aristhes then opened it, but as he begun to read it the greatest astonishment appeared on his eyes.

«Oh, gods…»

That night, as always, king Deiphobos was busy in enjoying the evening with one of his many concubines; suddenly, Captain Aristhes opened the door, finding them in the middle of their affairs.

«What the hell are you doing!?» the king angrily shouted

«I'm sorry my lord! But this is really urgent!»

«So urgent that you cannot even wait for tomorrow?»

«With all respect no, my lord.»

Snorting, Deiphobos ordered to the concubine to disappear.

«So?» he asked while taking a cup of wine from the bedside table. «What's the problem?»

«We received a message, sir.» Aristhes answered shoving him the scroll

«From whom?»

«From Reich.»


	8. Equilibrium

**_Notes_**

 _This time the author's notes are at the end of the chapter._

 _Enjoy the read!^^_

* * *

7

The king immediately called for his Great Council, meeting all of them in the Throne Room in the heart of the night.

In addition to his General Aristhes and his Great Master Pharmeon, the king also called all of his most trusted councilors, from Lord Dyomedes of the most respected family of the Kleymenos to the cavalry's commander Captain Heraclyus, probably the greatest warrior in Calibria after the same Aristhes.

There was great amusement among all those present. Since its birth, Reich never tried to extend its dominion toward east, but now that its borders were only a bunch of miles far from the Plains many cities, especially the closest ones to Arlea Forest, begun to fear for their survival.

They were all well aware of Reich's immense power, and despite being strong and fearless nations with no intention to being subjugated, begin a war was not exactly a tempting offer.

However, they also knew very well Reich's common way to do, so they initially thought that the message contained a threatening and contemptuous intimation of surrender, or an unusual declaration of war before an upcoming attack.

Instead, the real content proved to be more astonishing than anything.

«An ambassador!?» repeated General Kleytos, the old and fat commander of the royal cavalry.

«This is what they say» Aristhes replied. «According to their words, their camp is located twenty miles north from the city. I already sent some scouts, but they couldn't find any trace.»

«And since when does Reich recur to such pacifistic methods, if I may?» asked General Phyleos, the leader of the light infantry. «It seems at least strange.»

«I can answer with a single word, boy. Fear. The echoes of their overthrow against the Green Demons still resound in all the Plains, and I think they reached even the Empire. They're not invincible, and now everyone knows it.»

«Stop hiding behind this fairytale, Kleytos» said Aristhes. «Both you, me and everyone else cannot deny that Reich was at the point of invade the Plains, and that only the Singing People's arrival has been able to stop them. We're clearly seeing two giants fighting each other, but you should remember that compared to them we're nothing more than flies.»

«It seems you're underestimating Calibria's power, General.» Deiphobos replied. «Maybe the true fear is much closer than we thought.»

Then the young soldier watched the king directly into his eyes.

«With all respect, great king.» he grumbled. «I love too much my kingdom to see it burn.»

The air immediately became heavier, and a cold wind of bewilderment spread between the members of the council.

«The p…» begun to said Anthelea, stopping immediately as if she was about to say something wrong. «The General could be right, my king. This is not the common way to act for Reich. If their intention was to attack our city, they would've simply put Calibria under siege.

Maybe it's an ultimatum for real, but it could even be for something else that they asked for this meeting.»

«I agree with Lady Anthelea.» said General Symaras, probably the best archer in all the Plains. «We should listen what they have to say.»

«You're joking, right?» replied Kleytos. «Do you really intend to permit those scums to walk into our palace and intimate us to surrender them our city?»

«If this is their purpose for real, then they'll pay the consequences. But if the reason is another one, we'll have prevented a war.»

«In any case, we must make a choice as soon as possible.» said Aristhes. «The message says that if we accept their offer, we must raise a red flag over the main gate's turrets before dawn.»

Deiphobos reflected for a brief moment, and when he lifted his eyes from the war table all glances turned to him.

«All right. Let's see what their true intentions are.»

Some silently disapproved, while Aristhes and the other ones thanked the king for his decision.

«I'll immediately order to lift the flag.» said the young General

«Very well.» Deiphobos replied leaving the room. «In the meantime, I'll tell the servants to polish my sword. I want it clean and shining for when I'll use it to cut the ambassador's throat.»

* * *

In that forgotten piece of countryside covered in darkness, not far from Bergamo, everything was ready to proceed with the operation.

The target was right there, in front of the special forces' members lurked at a safe distance: an old, anonymous house lost among the rice fields, at the end of a tiny street.

Captain Ruggero de Simoni from the Milan's GIS was in command, but for that particular occasion the high command sent a member of the Secret Service, Giordani, to assume absolute leadership, and despite understanding the importance of the mission, de Simoni was not able to find a true meaning to such behavior from the upper echelons.

However, he couldn't be aware that the answer to his doubts was located inside one of the two vans which had followed Simoni's car when he arrived, as much as they couldn't be aware that someone was watching all of their movements from far away.

«Are we sure about the information?» Meggiorini, de Simoni's second in command, asked of his commander.

«So it seems.» he replied before looking toward Giordani and his group of sinister followers. «But it's said that Secret Service's ones have become an usual presence in many special operations against terrorists or mafia bosses. I would like to know what the hell is happening.»

At a certain point Giordani entered in the van's back, where he met with a young, elven girl surrounded by a pale light, whit closed eyes and hands clasped, as if she was in meditation.

«Do you confirm your feelings?»

«Yes.» she replied in a trance. «I sense… rage inside that house. Fear. "We must do it". "They must know our power". "We'll make the western world collapse".»

Then, the trance finished, the light disappeared, and the girl fell to the van's floor completely exhausted.

«All right, Zenthys. Thanks you for your help. You can rest now.»

Then, Giordani came back toward de Simoni, still waiting for his orders inside a ruined barrack facing the objective.

«It's confirmed, Prime Minister.» he said on the radio while walking

«Very well.» Rigamonti replied from his office, witnessing the entire situation alongside Scoleri and Giovanardi from his computer's monitor. «Proceed as planned.»

«Yes, sir.»

Then the officer reached de Simoni and his men.

«Thank you for your presence, Captain.» he said dismissing them much for their astonishment. «But from now own, we take the ball.»

«What!?»

«You and your men will stay here in coverage, but it will be my group that will take care of rest.»

«Who do you think you are?» replied an enraged de Simoni. «I don't care if you're from the AISI, this is still my operation.»

«That's a direct order from the prime minister, Captain.» coldly said Giordani. «You can defy it if you want, but in that case I cannot guarantee your career.»

At the end, de Simoni had no other choice than to surrender.

«Very well.» Giordani finally concluded before activating his earphone. «Taurus-1, you have green light. Proceed.»

«As you command.» replied a single, but terrifying voice from the other side

«Wait a minute!» de Simoni said «Are you sending a single man!? If the information is correct, there are five persons inside that house, all of them equipped with assault rifles, guns and maybe even explosives!»

«Don't worry, Captain» answered a completely calm Giordani. «First of all, my man doesn't fear nor bullets or dynamite.» then she smiled. «And secondary… he's not a man.»

* * *

Inside that old house anciently used to store work tools by the farmers there were four men, all Middle Eastern apparently, regrouped inside the old dining room at the ground floor and busy to consume their simple dinner in the light of an old oil lantern.

All around them, however, there was a true arsenal, made by many AK-47s, Beretta pistols and even some grenades; plus this, over a table, clearly a working position, there were many strange devices, with nails, electric wires and chemical substances.

None of them had noticed what was happening outside, since all the old widows' blinds were closed, but at a certain point the younger one thought to have heard a strange noise come from outside, and turned toward the wall.

«Have you heard it?»

«Heard what!?» asked one of them

«They seemed… footsteps.»

All of them immediately left the cans, then one of them silently reached a window to take a look outside.

Suddenly the wall literally collapsed, and the debris submerged that poor guy killing him instantly; then from the hole in the wall, surrounded in dust, a giant and terrifying creature appeared in the room, upsetting the remaining ones. He was almost a Minotaur, half man and half bull, with enormous horns, a bovine flat nose, enormous hands and clogs instead of feet: he was completely covered in a dark, short fur; his eyes were of an abnormal yellow color, and he was wielding a giant anti-tank rifle as a common gun, holding it up with just one hand.

«Don't move!» he shouted with beastly voice, pointing his gun against them

The three men stood still for many seconds, but at the end their leader ran to take up his AK-47; however, when he fired against the creature, not a single bullet managed to hit his incredibly tough skin.

Then, when the magazine ran out, the beast answered, hitting the enemy with such a tremendous punch that he sent him directly against the wall on the other side of the room, a devastating smash which almost killed him.

«Is there anyone else?» he said again, and at that point the remaining ones surrendered.

* * *

When the reason for Giordani's unusual confidence appeared in front of them, holding a sack full of weapons and explosives, de Simoni and his squad was so astonished that only their GIS's training allowed them to preserve a bit of self-control.

Slowly, he walked till Giordani, letting his booty drop in front of him.

«Well done, Bogoth.» Giordani said while the GIS stormed inside the house.

«The place is safe» the bull replied. «The men you were searching for are already packaged and ready for jail. One of them could necessitate first aid, but I tried to be as smooth as possible with him. Unfortunately, I fear I killed one of them smashing the wall.»

«There's nothing to fear. We needed some of them for intelligence affairs, but we were prepared to lose a prey or two.»

«This world is much more problematic than I thought. But for a Minotaur like me, all this mess is like a paradise.»

«You'll have other occasions to prove your might, my enormous friend.» then Giordani called one of his men, which provided to take a whiskey barrel out from the second van.

«For now, enjoy your price. You deserved it.»

While Bogoth was drinking, a wordless de Simoni approached Giordani, staying beside him to watch that sort of giant empty that barrel like a common glass.

«Who… what… the hell… is this?»

«I trust you and your men will keep all of this for yourselves.»

«But why? What did you call for us if taking care of this problem was such a simple task?»

«The _Forza Antiterrorismo Speciale Interspecie_ is a new institution, an experiment we needed to test on the field. Since then the results have been more than positive, but for some reasons our primary task is to completely avoid any kind of… unwanted notoriety. This implies that in many cases our job is all but easy to achieve, but the Prime Minister insists that he wants it ready and completely functional as fast as possible.

So, we needed someone to assist us in sunlight, and when this occasion showed up the First Minister thought that it could be a good occasion to… know each other.»

De Simoni stood still, slightly opening his mouth in disbelief.

«What… are you talking about?»

Giordani turned to him.

«You and your squad did a great job in preventing all those attacks against the EXPO, and you've well figured even during that operation against Al Qaida's secret bases last year.

We need someone skilled enough to manage to assist us in everything, and you and your squad are the best we could ask for.»

Only a complete fool wouldn't understand what Giordani was trying to say.

«But… we're members of the GIS. We're Carabinieri.»

«You'll be transferred to a new assignment. Your superior has already been informed. Our main base is located in Rome, but the FASI's members are located in many places around Italy, and some of them even in other parts of the world. In case of need, we can operate in every corner of this country, or even overseas, in a matter of hours, but as I said we need even someone less… trumpery to do part of the job.»

De Simoni remained silent, not knowing how to answer or even what to think. Suddenly, Meggiorini's voice echoed on the radio.

«Captain, we have a problem.»

Both men felt an unpleasant cold on their backs, and then De Simoni answered.

Some minutes later, while Rigamonti was still receiving compliments and greetings from his staff for the first success of his new special force, Giordani called him on the computer, saying the exact same thing.

«What kind of problem?»

«The tip-off spoke about five terrorists, but including even the wounded and the dead ones there were only four of them inside the house.»

«What!?»

«It's true, sir. We searched for him in the whole house, but we couldn't find a single trace.»

«Then search better! He must be there!»

«It's useless, sir. The area is completely surrounded, and no one arrived of left in the last few hours. Probably he left this place hours ago.»

«You're joking, I hope! The reports were more than clear, that group was preparing something serious against our Country, and you made one of them escape!»

«Don't worry, sir. The FASI's members are surveilling all possible targets in Milan. The Piazza del Duomo, the Scala, Malpensa and the subway's most frequented stations are under our control.»

«This is your squad's first serious operation, Giordani! Make sure that it will not be the last too!»

«Shit.» said Giordani when the communication ended. «They told us that their plan was about to start, but we thought to have more time.»

Then, followed by de Simoni, he reached the car when the two prisoners were enclosed, violently dragging out of it one of them.

«Where… is… him?» he said looking directly into his eyes.

The prisoners initially tried to avoid Giordani's eyes, but even so he refused to answer for a very long time.

«You cannot stop it.» he finally said in a contemptuous tone. «Your monsters will not be able to avoid what we've prepared for you.»

Then he fell silent, refusing to speak further.

«As you prefer.» Giordani replied calling his elven partner with a wave of the hand. «You take care.»

«Yes, my lord.»

Zenthys kneeled in front of the terrorist, which uselessly tried to crawl far from her, but at the end she put her hands to his hand, closing the eyes while both of them were surrounded by a strange light.

Initially the situation seemed quite calm, but suddenly the prisoner began to frightfully scream, shouting with all of his voice without however trying to avoid further the elf's touch, as if he was paralyzed. Zenthys instead appeared more and more exhausted, and when the light finally vanished the terrorist fainted, while she instead managed to remain conscious.

«So?» Giordani asked

«He did his best to resist my spell. I couldn't see many things.»

«But…» said a wordless de Simoni. «What the hell did she do?»

«Zenthys is a Sage.» Giordani replied. «She has an incredibly stronger empathy with everything around her. She's also able to read in the people's minds to capture their thoughts.»

«I saw… people. Many people.»

«This is not very exhaustive.» de Simoni commented

«Have you sensed something?» Giordani questioned. «A noise, a scent, a feeling?»

«I felt… happiness. Fun. A smell of smoke. And many cries.»

Then, the girl fainted too, so Bogoth took her to the van to let her rest.

«Happiness. Smoke. Cries.» de Simoni repeated. «Can it be a concert?»

«There are no concerts or similar events this evening.» answered Giordani.

While the two men were still speculating about the terrorists' possible target, one of Giordani's men arrived out of breath shaking his radio.

«Captain, lady Olympia is calling us! They say they found him!»

«What!? Give me that phone!»

* * *

That morning Lady Olympia, queen Isengaria's sister, had been sent with a little group of her personal guards to Genoa to secretly surveil an international meeting, and according to the plans they were returning back to the Istrana's military base where they were housed.

«Eagle-1, here's Giordani! Did you find him for sure!?»

«I can't be sure, lord Giordani. But we saw a man who fits the description you gave us this morning. Actually we're surveilling him from above.»

«Where are you?»

«We don't know, sir. But there's a city below us. A big city.»

Fortunately, every non-human member of the FASI was equipped with a GPS locator, so Giordani simply needed to make a search with his tablet to locate the princess and his handmaids' exact position: the results, however, left him motionless in disbelief.

«But… they're flying over Brescia.»

«Why?» asked de Simoni. «It has no sense. There are no concerts in Brescia tonight.»

«Maybe he's aiming to a discotheque.» Giordani answered before speaking again to Olympia. «Do you see where is the objective heading?»

«There's a giant arena at the end of the road he's following, with a green rectangle and many lights inside of it.»

The two agents remained silent for some seconds, but at the end they looked at each other in terror.

«Smoke. Cries. Lights…» de Simoni murmured. «He's heading to the stadium.»

«But it's Thursday. There should be no matches…»

«There is an exhibition match between Italy and Japan. Prime Minister Motoi is there.»

A second, terrified moment of silence filled that little piece of Italian countryside, turning everyone in motionless statues.

«Holy shit!»

«I call the Carabinieri's local HQ!»

«There's no time! Eagle-1, you're green! You're green! Stop that bastard!»

«But there are many people. We could be seen.»

«Who cares, do it! Kill him if necessary, but he must not put a feet into the stadium!»

* * *

Since the GATE's appearance, all nations of the world begun an exhilarating as much as pitiful race in order to gain Japan's favors, with meetings, invitations and many other things.

Obviously, Italy didn't need to take part to this circus, but in order to save the appearances and keep the absolute secrecy about what was scrupulously hidden in the depths of the Italian mountains even Prime Minister Rigamonti decided to do his part, and Motoi's invitation to the celebrations for the Italian victory in the Great War, added with a pleasurable soccer game between the Azzurri and the Japanese team, was nothing more than a farce to joke the rest of the world.

All around the stadium chosen for the match the security was quite strong, in response to the recurring problems with terrorism in many parts of Europe, but that tiny and anonymous young man which appeared all alone in front of the main access gate shortly after the match's beginning seemed to be all but a menace for the police agents put in surveillance of the access.

The boy advanced, stopping in front of the metal detector, but since he seemed reluctant to pass it the policemen approached him.

«Problems?» one asked

«I have heart problems.» he said in a strange, but still good Italian. «Can I avoid to pass under this thing, please?»

«I'm sorry sir, but no.» the other one replied. «These are the rules.»

«Please, I beg you. I could have an heart attack.»

The two officers looked each other for a moment.

«Okay» said the first one taking up the mobile device. «But we still need to check you.»

A strange light appeared in the newcomer's eyes, and then a suspect begun to emerge in the minds of the policemen. The young man remained still, breathing heavily, a powerful breath covered by the cries coming from the stadium in front of him.

«Stay away from him!» a female voice suddenly shouted. «He has a bomb!»

As the word bomb echoed, all soldiers and policemen in the area tried to take up their weapons, but in the same time the terrorist lifted his coat and shirt, revealing a composite and menacing belt knotted around the waist.

He was about to pull the little string connected to the belt, when a little but devastating arrow struck him in the hand, forcing it against the leg where the point finally entered and nailing the terrorists' limbs one against another.

That poor men shouted in agony, and the two policemen instinctively moved away; one moment later, five female angels covered in ancient cloths and provided with superb wings descended from the dark sky, surrounding the terrorist and keeping him under the fire of their weapons, especially little crossbows and javelins.

«Don't move!» shouted one of them, a wonderful young girl with long dark hair and blue eyes. «You're under arrest!»

The terrorist looked all around in search for an escape, and when he tried to activate his bomb with the other hand the same show repeated once more; another one of these strange angels shot with her crossbow, and finally that poor guy collapsed to the ground in absolute pain, totally harmless.

The two policemen and the other security members witnessed the scene completely speechless, and the when dark-haired girl noted many people among the crowd regrouped out from the stadium's gates to film the scene with their smartphones and cameras she gently walked toward the agents, showing them a paper with the presidential stamp and President Mancuso's personal sign impressed on it.

«In the name of the Lord of this land, I followed the orders I received from his delegates to assure Italy's safety. Could you please take care of this man till our companions will came for him? We need to depart immediately.»

«Y… yes…» stammered one of them. «Of… of course.»

Then, immediately after, the five girls departed, still filmed by many persons.

* * *

Less than one hour later the images of the arrest were on TV and internet already, and a more than enraged Rigamonti immediately called for Giordani to have an explanation.

«I take complete responsibility, sir.» the agent said «The situation was about to go out of control. But we've been able to arrest four out of five terrorists alive, and to prevent their attack against the stadium.»

«Do you understand the mess you caused, Giordani? Those fucking images were seen by the entire world! Ban Ki Moon already called me, and so many other fucking presidents, kings and first ministers!»

«I understand, sir. But unfortunately, there was no other option. And in any case, if I can, the FASI has proven up its potential. Without them, we'd be already counting countless deaths.»

The Prime Minister took a moment to calm down, and then spoke again.

«I don't care what you do, but do something before this goddamn thing can explode in our own hands.»

«As you order, sir.»

«But remember Giordani, this is your first and last time. One more mistakes, and I'll adorn my office with your head.»

«You have my word, there will be no more problems.»

«I hope so.»

Then the transmission ended, but before leaving the communication's van, Giordani ordered to his two technicians to start immediately with the complete cleanup of the net by the indicted images.

Out of the van, de Simoni was waiting for him.

«Do you think you'll be able to avoid the spread of the news?»

«There was Motoi on that stadium. We'll say that these monsters were Japan's allies deployed to protect the minister and the Japanese team.»

«But will the people believe it?»

«It's not necessary they believe it for long, just for the time that we'll need to cleanup all of this mess.»

At that point, it was time for Giordani and his team to depart.

«And to conclude our talk, captain» he said while getting in the car. «Think about it. As you saw, you could serve this country like never before in your life. If you want this job, you know where to find me.»

* * *

 ** _Author's Notes_**

 _Here I am._

 _As I promised, this time I've been quite far in post the new chapter, since I had many time to WRITE (not wright) and the ideas were clear in my mind._

 _By the way, I suppose that the characters and terms of this story are becoming quite numerous, I decided to create a little summary of the same ones. Many of them have already appeared in the story; the other ones will arrive soon. They're secondary but quite recurring terms and characters, so I thought that was a good idea to clarify them immediately._

 _So, there you are._

* * *

 ** _Terms_**

 ** _Operation Columbus:_** _The Italy and Italian Army's secret operation in the Special Region. Differently from the JSDF's one, the Operation Columbus' is much more similar to a political operation, since the Italian government's purpose is to establish as fast as possible political relations with many influential people and populations of the Special Region, in order to obtain a stronger position and influence than Japan and JSDF on the other side of the GATE._

 ** _RAI:_** _The_ _ **Regione ad Amministrazione Italiana**_ _(Italian Administrated Region) is a big portion of Northern Falmart put under the direct or indirect control of the Italian Army. Located for the bigger part inside the Mountain Range of Ice and Snow and the Arlea Forest, it's bordered to the south with the Empire, to the north with Reich and to the east with the Haqaba Plains. Almost all of the species and populations located inside the RAI have sworn their loyalty to the Italians in exchange of their protection against the Reich's menace._

 ** _FASI:_** _The_ _ **Forza Antiterrorismo Speciale Interpecie**_ _(Special Interspecies Force for Antiterrorism), is a secret, experimental special force of the Italian Secret Service put under the direct control of the Government. It's composed of members of the Italian Special Forces (the GIS, or Gruppo d'Intervento Speciale) and some inhabitants of the Special Region, especially demi-humans or individuals provided with special powers, and its primary job is to ensure Italy's safety and protect the Italian interests both inside and outside the borders_.

 ** _People_**

 ** _Sergio Rigamondi_**

 ** _Age:_** _49_

 _The Italian Prime Minister, he authorizes both Operation Columbus and Falcon-1's mission to search for the proofs of a Roman origin of the Empire. He belongs to the Right side of the Italian politics._

 ** _Nicola Perdersoli_**

 ** _Age:_** _58_

 _General, former Italian Chief of Staff, he's been promoted to the command of Operation Columbus. He cares for the military aspects of the Operation and he commands all the units located in the Special Region._

 ** _Lino Manfredi_**

 ** _Age:_** _50_

 _A member of the Foreign Ministry, he represents the political force of Operation Columbus. His job is mainly to establish political relations with as many tribes and populations as possible in the Special Region_

 ** _Tommaso Lirola_**

 ** _Age:_** _37_

 _A member of the Ministry of Economy, he's the reference of the economic aspects involved in Operation Columbus. His job is to create strong economic partnerships with many tribes and populations, and grant a constant provision of Special Region's products and to Italy. Together with Manfredi and Pedersoli, they're known as the_ _ **Triumvirate**_ _, and they're the reference point for every aspect of the Italian presence in the Special Region._

 ** _Davide Giordani_**

 ** _Age:_** _31_

 _A member of the AISI (the Italian domestic intelligence agency) and high commander in chief of the FASI_

 ** _Luigi de Simoni_**

 ** _Age:_** _35_

 _A former member of the GIS, commander of the humans enrolled in the FASI_

 ** _Isengardia_**

 ** _Age:_** _341_

 _Queen of an Avion tribe, she commands all the Special Region's members of the FASI_

 ** _Giampietro Mancuso_**

 ** _Age:_** _77_

 _The President of the Italian Republic, he's been one of the few persons in the Italian history to have been aware of the GATE's existence since the beginning of his mandate as President. He belongs to the Left side._

 ** _Ivana Scoleri_**

 ** _Age:_** _44_

 _Italian Foreign Minister in the Rigamonti Government_

 ** _Anselmo Giovanardi_**

 ** _Age:_** _39_

 _Italian Defense Minister in the Rigamonti Government: he's the most loyal member of the government to Rigamonti._

 ** _Matteo Delneri_**

 ** _Age:_** _61_

 _Italy's new Chief of Staff in the Rigamonti Government._


	9. Jump in the Brambles

**_Author's Notes_**

 _Hi again!^^_

 _How's going your summer? Mine is going quite well, but during these last weeks I've been a bit occupied, so this new chapter requested a bit of time to be finished._

 _But now, here I am at least!_

 _This time the chapter contains some references to the italian culture and history, but you'll find all necessary quotes at the end of the chapter._

 _See you soon!^_^_

 _Cj Spencer_

* * *

8

Days passed, and nothing happened.

According to Anthelea's words sixty days had been granted to professor Radoni to prepare his thesis, but when Giuseppe said that he needed only half of that time to be ready, in the way to take part to the next month's exams yet, most of his teammates secretly exulted, seeing in this a great opportunity to considerably shorten their mission's duration.

Life in Calibria was not so different from any other big city, with the sole difference of a clear technological difference which considerably dropped the occasions for fun and entertainment.

Among the members of Falcon-1 the boredom begun to mount, and the work at Vulcan's temple almost appeared as a blessing to those soldiers in desperately search for a way to spend some of their time.

The solution arrived during an extremely hot morning, almost two weeks after the squad's arrival at the city.

On the second floor of the tower, in a small room created to be the defensive Captain's room, a little office had been created by soldiers, with a desk, a chair, a tiny table and some other things to make it a bit comfortable. As always, since Lunardi was absent, Russo was doing the honors, but during every infernal morning like that one he almost complained having accepted the role of second-in-command for that mission: the tower was a little fresher, but the heat was still almost unbearable, even for someone used to the Middle Eastern deserts like him.

In the office with him there were even soldier Cassetti, Wang and Brugnoni, the unit's cook, as HQ's surveillance, but there was absolutely nothing to survey in such pacific and harmless place, not considering that outside was even worst regarding the sun, without a single breath of wind to freshen the air.

At a certain point the guard at the door, Tassoni, or mama's boy for the rest of the squad, a twenty-five valdostano more interested to write to his mom instead of his fiancée, entered the office.

«Where's the Captain?» asked to Cassetti and the other ones

«He's at the temple with the other ones.» Rocco answered from the desk while trying to find some air agitating a pile of papers. «And I don't know who is in the worst situation, if them forced to work under this goddamn sun or us instead trapped in this cursed tower.»

«There's a woman at the door. A Warrior Bunny. She asks to speak with the commander.»

«A woman?» replied Rocco with the strangest glance

«So what… what should I do? Must I send her away?»

«What do you think? She wants to speak with the commander, so she will speak with the commander. Let her pass.»

However, even before Tassoni could leave, the said woman crossed the door, appearing in the office with a confident, almost cocky attitude: like most of the Warrior Bunnies she was beautiful, with middle-long hair, a bit of fur on arms and legs and deep eyes, both of this as dark as coal. The strange thing was that she missed the left ear, a common way of the Empire to mark the enslaved Warrior Bunnies, but judging from her attitude she resembled anything but a slave.

The newcomer advanced, stopping in front of the desk, while Rocco tried his best to appear like a true soldier, closing the shirt and fixing the sweaty hair.

Usually the protocol said that all soldiers needed to leave the office during a meeting between the commander and a civilian, but that girl was so incredibly pretty that no one remembered to do it; and in any case, Rocco didn't order them to do it, so all of them stayed.

«You the Commander?» she said firmly, in a very difficult and rough Ludorian

«Yes, I am.» Rocco replied

«Me, Parna.»

«Oh, Parna. I… am… Rocco.»

The girl looked at him in disbelief: probably she thought he was a bit strange.

«I here for smaktrek.»

«Smaktrek?» then Rocco searched with the eyes his soldiers in search for a meaning for that word, but he received only puzzled glances. «Sorry, I don't understand.»

The girl thought for a moment.

«Lupbinesh.» she said.

If the first word came from the Calibrian dialect, the second one instead was from the Warrior Bunnies' language, but once again the soldiers proved to be completely unable to understand.

«Where's that geek professor when we need him?» Rocco mourned to himself

«It's your fault, general.» said Cassetti, probably the sole one brave enough to defy Rocco's rage. «They told you to learn the Special Region's dialects.»

«Mind your own, failed priest!»

Parna was even more astonished, and desperately tried to find a way to be understood.

«How was that word…» then she remembered. «Work! Work.»

«Ah! Work!» replied joyfully Rocco. «You wanted to speak about work. And what kind of work?»

«I be whorl.» she said, and the puzzled glances appeared once again

«Whorl!?»

«Could it be... whore?» instinctively said Brugnoni

«Ei, watch for your words!» Rocco scolded him

«Exact! Whore!» said instead the girl

Then, the most pronounced disbelief appeared in the soldiers' eyes.

«This is starting to become quite familiar.» said an almost speechless Tassoni

«Same for me…» said Cassetti

«People here not like do with me.» said again Parna. «Are you… interested?»

«Interested?» repeated Rocco

The Sergeant looked again to his men, and apart for Tassoni their glances were more than eloquent about their opinion.

«Well… how can I say it… you see, we're on duty. We can't take such freedom if we're working. But… for your free time, maybe…»

His way to act was nothing short of hilarious. His respect for the rules was all but on doubt, but casually his girlfriend left him right after the mission's beginning, so he desperately needed to find a way to forget his heartbreak. As for Cassetti and the others all of them, for one reason or another, were clearly more than happy to find a way to fight the boredom of their assignment.

«Listen, Miss Parma. I'll speak with my men, to find an arrangement. But I think yes, we can speak about it. And where do you… well… where do you do your things… your place.»

«My place?» she replied. «Prince Aulas Road.» she pointed toward the wall with the finger. «The baker's shop. Secondary entrance. First floor.»

«Oh, very well. Ok, if you agree… we'll come this evening to make you… well… know our decision.»

Shortly after Parna left the office, and Rocco, while collapsing on his chair, noted the amused, not for say mocking glances of Cassetti and the others.

«Problems?»

«Absolutely not.» Brugnoni replied. «For sure… Sergeant Lo Russo.»

«Very funny. Do you prefer a kick in your ass or your mouth?»*

* * *

That one appeared to be a very common day.

Work at the temple was going well, and even thanks to Pvt. Molteni's efforts: he studied at the Venice's school of Architecture before joining the Army, and with his very particular but somehow innovative vision he managed to give to the building a quite new, but still pleasurable appearance.

Lunardi and his men, plus this, were all fine workers, and put all of themselves in rebuild the ancient Vulcan's temple, under the puzzled and somehow skeptical glances of the Calibrians. They had neither powerful instruments nor machines with them, apart from a winch and some common work tools, but for most of them that was not the first time in such situations. Maybe almost all of them never served overseas, in Iraq, Afghanistan or other war scenarios, but their military training was all but excellent.

In just two weeks, the exterior of the temple was completely rebuilt, even if completely different from anything the Calibrians ever saw in their lives: the strong, round columns were now thin and high, the walls were completely covered in white, and many windows had been created to spread the light all inside the building.

«A religious building must necessarily inspire a sense of respect, but given the situation even attracting attention is a primary target for us.» said Molteni while looking both the temple and the project in front of him from the site's HQ. «Elegance with innovation. This is the heart of modern architecture.»

«Why don't you help us instead of talk?» protested Stefanini while pushing a wheelbarrow weighted by a big pile of debris.

«How many times do I have to tell you? I'm the architect! The artist! My job is to plan, to imagine the final creation. I must find… the inspiration!»

«Then inspire yourself taking some of these goddamn stones out from the temple, or your wonderful piece of art will remain only in your dreams!»

«It's turning into such a wonderful place!» Tymlin said looking at the building which was becoming more and more similar again to a true temple. «Thank you so much! I cannot even say how much I'm in debt to you.»

«I can!» replied Amato cleaning up the entrance from other debris. «You owe us ten beers for each. For any goddam day of work!»

«Don't be spineless.» Lunardi scolded him. «You all were a bit too relaxed. All of this will remind you that we're still on mission.»

«I could even agree, but I joined the army to fight in battle, not to clean a giant, useless slum!»

Meanwhile, on the inside, works were already on course to restore part of the ancient frescoes, destroyed by decades of carelessness, and in this case Valenti's work was more than fantastic. In addition to being a doctor and a soldier, Giada had a great passion and a natural talent for painting, and under her care the western wall was almost completely recovered, reprinted and refreshed by her marvelous hands.

Brush stroke after brush stroke, Vulcan's might and story was slowly returning to life, from the mighty birth among the fire of Mount Dogas to the victory against the demons of Potipan at the Galadogan Peaks.

«You're very good.» Lunardi commented from the base of the working stairs

«I'm just a Sunday painter.» she replied without stop painting. «My father taught me. It was his passion too. He always said my future was to become an artist. He wanted to send me to the Art School. But my mother had other opinions.»

«And now you're a soldier. And a medic.»

«I prefer to consider myself a medic assigned to the Army.»

Then Giada stopped and turned toward Flavio, and a dark and sad shadow appeared on her eyes.

«This was my dream, instead.»

«I heard about Major Valenti.» Lunardi said with the same glance. «He was in Kosovo, right?»

«He died when I was fifteen years old. Leukemia.»

«I'm sorry. My uncle died for the same reason.»**

«Our country has many things to answer for, but he loved it till his last, painful breath. And I'll do the same.»

«Thank you, Giada. You're truly an admirable person.»

«Or maybe a very naïve one.»

* * *

Shortly after it was time for lunch, so Lunardi and the others took place outside the temple to eat their sandwiches.

While the lunch was still on course, Tymlin as always let herself go to game with a group of children, but while she was trying to teach them to play soccer, the ball rolled on the road, and with no hesitations she run to catch it.

«Wait, it's dangerous!» Lunardi shouted, but it was already too late.

Fortunately the horse at the head of the little convoy which was passing along the road on that moment stopped in time, but rearing up in fear it almost made his equestrian drop from its back, not to mention that all of his men were forced to stop too.

«Watch where you go, you little brat!» the middle-aged, thin and bearded noble replied in anger, however angering in this way even the same Tymlin

«Who have you called brat!? I am the mighty…»

But she wasn't able to say more, since Niang, as fast as a lion, jumped on her, forcing her to remain silent.

«Please excuse her, your grace.» said Lunardi instead. «She's just a kid.»

The equestrian, clearly a high noble, looked at him.

«Is this brat your daughter?» he finally said

«Something like that.»

«Try to teach her some manners.» then he turned to his men. «Let's go! The king is waiting for us!»

Then the convoy moved up again, but Lunardi followed to look their leader for a long time without speaking.

«The typical aristocratic bastard.» Rizzoli commented before noticing his Captain's eyes. «Something wrong, Sir?»

«He doesn't like me.»

«He's just a rich, conceited noble of this world. Not an uncommon thing, if I may.»

«Let's return to work. We rested enough.»

Sometime later, the convoy entered in the main street which lead them to the palace, and their presence, despite the huge crowd that was walking along the road for the market's day, was immediately noted by the king and General Aristhes, sitting in the palace's main balcony.

«They're finally here.» Deiphobos said. «Rich vests, arrogant tones, and respectful horses. They don't seem from Reich neither.»

«They clearly don't want to be recognized.» the General said. «After all, if this negotiation's existence should ever reach the wrong persons, both us and Reich could face bad consequences. And if I remember correctly, the same idea of negotiating is against their religion, since a negotiation for them is the same thing as a demonstration of weakness.» then Arishtes gnashed teeth. «They're absolutely like the Empire.»

Deiphobos looked at the guests for a second time, and then turned toward the entrance.

«I hope you washed your butts, guys.» he loudly said to his numerous retinue of advisers, officers and mages. «They're about to be kissed by a God's servants.»

* * *

«Enough!» Giuseppe loudly cried falling over his computer, and attiring in this way the resented glances of the library's other goers. «I surrender!»

The magic school's library was truly enormous, but at the same time it was perfectly organized to be rational and easy to use. It was divided in three sections. The largest one was the first section, subdivided along the six main floors of the tower where it was located and completely free, even for the common citizens; the other two sections instead were in the underground, and their access, especially to the third section, was strictly forbidden, since down there were secured the most dangerous and secret researches of the entirety of Falmart.

Medea and Sadee were at his side, but in that case there was nothing they could do to help him.

«I told you many times» the elven princess said. «You must pretend to be an inhabitant of this world. You cannot use words like "ions", "atoms" or "radio wave".»

«But this is essential for my thesis. How can I explain the electricity with different words? This world has made some progress in these studies, but for me it's like to have come back to Benjamin Franklin's time.»

«You have no choice. You cannot explain your thesis like if you were talking to a common conference on the Earth. They would think you are mad.»

«Holy Christ, what should I do now? And I even asked to anticipate my exam.»

«Maybe you can still ask for a postponement.» Medea proposed

«I fear it would be useless. The problem is not the argument, but to find the right way to present it. And I fear this is too much for me.»

In that moment, a tiny, little insect similar to a ladybug, but with an intense, yellow color appeared in front of professor's eyes, alighting over the keyboard and beginning to produce a strange, noisy sound with the wings.

«What do you want?» said an enraged professor. «Are you kidding me too? Out of my computer!»

«No, wait!» Sadee tried to stop him.

With no hesitation, Radoni smashed it with a single slap, but in that exact moment the insect's body produced a little but still painful jolt which had for the professor the same effect of a strong nip.

«Ouch! What the hell…»

«I warned you. That was a bibidan.»

«Bibidan?»

«An insect which lives here on the Plains.» Medea answered. «They call it the stun insect. If you touch it, or worse you smash it, it jolts you with his mysterious force.»

«A mysterious force!?»

«Probably some sort of static electricity.» replied Sadee. «They use it to defend themselves from the predators. Something like your electric rays, I suppose.»

However, just like that jolt, suddenly a new electric discharge seemed to explode in professor's mind, blessing it with a new and potentially good idea.

«Wait, maybe I could…»

The other two girls look looked each other.

«You what…» asked Medea

«Let's find another one of them!»

«Eh!?»

«Have you heard it? Quickly! And it must be still alive!»

That proved to be a long and even difficult hunt, but at least the three girls managed to capture an living bibidan, which was immediately stuck to a slide and put under Radoni's microscope.

«So?» Sadee asked after a long period of silence from the professor

«Just as I thought.» he replied. «Look at it.»

Sadee then looked by herself, noting just as her friend strange sparks coming from the insect's body every time he tried to flapping wings and free itself from the adhesive.

«It's real static electricity.»

«Exactly.» Radoni replied. «Obviously this is just an opinion, but I think that this insect's wings are some sort of natural electrophorus. The wings' flapping creates a rubbing with the insect's exoskeleton, and the energy created in this way is stored in some sort of container inside its body. That's the way it's able to stun anyone that smashes it.»

«But how can it survive with all of that electricity inside of its body?»

«Probably it constantly throws away part of the energy during this process. This could explain the strange sounds it emits when he flaps its wings.»

«Uhm… excuse me…» Medea interrupted them. «I don't think I understand what are you saying.»

«In a nutshell, Giuseppe says that this insect has the ability to produce a little amount of electrical power.»

«And so?»

«And so…» Radoni answered with a giant and pleased smile. «I think I found it.»

* * *

 _November 10_

 _Tokyo_

 _Italian Embassy_

Immediately after having heard of the incident outside the Brescia's Stadium, the Japan's Defence Minister Kanō asked for a meeting with the Italian ambassador in Japan Talleri, which after countless reserves accepted to meet him in the embassy's living room.

«It's a pleasure to receive your visit, minister.» Talleri said while he and Taro sat around the beautiful, glass table, prepared already with coffee, tea and biscuits.

«I would also come sooner if you had allowed me to do it.»

«I beg you to understand, minister. My orders, like your own, directly came from my chief-of-state, and I must respect them. And the orders were to avoid to meet you till First Minister Motoi and First Minister Rigamonti hadn't met for themselves in Rome.»

Then Talleri lighted up a smoke, offering one of them even to Kanō, which refused however without stopping to look the ambassador in an incredibly disappointed way.

«Our first ministers already discussed about the crisis that happened in Brescia last weekend. So, if this is your case, honestly I don't understand the meaning of your visit.»

«That was not a clarification, just a pitiful skit. Almost one billion persons in this world saw the video of the failed attempt. All of your ministers and politicians have so closed mouths they couldn't even sip your goddam coffee from a tiny cane, so what do you think to avoid other lies and speak the truth?»

«As direct as always, isn't it?» Talleri answered with the most absolute indifference. «But whether you like it or not, the truth is the same one that my First Minister reported to your own, my friend. We have absolutely no idea of what has happened outside the stadium, as much as we don't know who were those… monsters.»

«We both know where they came from, ambassador. They were Special Region's inhabitants.»

«One more reason to have no doubts about our innocence, don't you think? If I remember correctly, the Special Region is your stuff.»

«Don't pretend you don't remember, Enrico. Your embassy has been assaulted by a small group of Imperial Forces during the first battle, and we have proofs that you captured some of them when you repelled the attack.»

«And we returned all of them to Japan with no hesitations, according to the orders we received from Rome. So, I cannot understand where's the problem.»

«The problem is that our First Minister was almost killed in a kamikaze attack.» replied a more and more enraged Kanō. «The problem is that a legion of Special Region's inhabitants prevented the attack on your soil, and the problem is that despite all of our requests you still refuse to give us something that can be similar to a true explanation! Should I continue, ambassador?»

Despite this, the ambassador followed to preserve his calm, distant attitude, taking a biscuit from the plate and gently eating it.

«At this point, I must say it, my dear minister. If you're really so sure of the fact we're hiding something related to the Special Region, then explain to me… how could this be remotely possible if we don't have a GATE?»

At that point Kanō was speechless, while a strange, almost sinister light appeared in the eyes of the young ambassador.

«Since all of this has begun, you're the only ones which had the opportunity to travel beyond the GATE. How could we hide something related to the Special Region if we have never either seen that world, if I can?»

It was true.

Since then the JSDF were the only ones to have visited the Special Region, and the GATE's entrance was far too well protected because someone could be only able to approach it.

«But…» he tried to say. «But so how can be…»

«I've heard the strangest things about the ones you call trusted men, Minister. If you're in search for a culprit, maybe you should search elsewhere. If I may, I would suggest you to start with your subjects.»

«Don't play with me, Talleri. I've chosen all of my men personally, and I can guarantee for the loyalty of all of them.»

«Really? Even among the Secret Services?»

Hearing those words, the minister found himself unable to answer.

«Everyone in the world knows that you're trying to reach political alliances with many species and populations of the Special Region, including the Empire. Why do you think that US, China and Russia are desperately trying to have an access to the portal? They want the same thing as you. But at the same time, there are many persons, right here in Japan, which see that world as an incredible opportunity to reach new frontiers of power and influence.

We live in a world where the race to reach the newest conquests in surveillance and security has no end. If I were them, I would try my best to obtain the best as possible from this unexpected opportunity, even at the cost to do it behind my chiefs' back.»

Taro could not help but think that the ambassador could be right. There were many persons, not related to him, too anxious and fanatic to be tempted by the Special Region's opportunities: maybe someone had already reached the most unexpected frontiers without he ever noticing.

Sometime later, and with the worst thoughts in his mind, Kanō left the embassy, but immediately after he left, Talleri's vice-ambassador, Civetti, reached him in the room.

«Do you think that this will be enough?»

«I don't know. He's too stupid to imagine the truth for now, but at the same time he has enough influence to reach the bottom of this story.

And unfortunately for us, at the moment he has that naïve of Motoi right on his hand. If he'll ever decide to investigate for sure about this, he will be sure to always have Motoi's approval.»

«Then what do you suggest? Should we try to discredit him?»

«His reputation is impeccable. It would be useless. Not to mention that we cannot expose ourselves up to this point, or their accusations will become even more credible.»

The ambassador reflected for a moment, then a sinister smile appeared on his face.

«Fortunately for us, Motoi's other dogs are much less blameless. I suppose that we'll need to give Japan something more important to attend to, instead of investigating an inexistent internal conspiracy.»

Civetti remained silent for a moment, but in his mind he immediately understood what his chief was thinking in that moment.

«Shouldn't we ask for Rome's authorization?»

«I think they'll be more than happy if I'll release them from this nuisance.»

«But how should we do it? You said that we cannot draw too much attention.»

«In fact. But we'll not be the bad guys this time.»

At that point, Talleri recovered first a pile of papers from his office back and then his phone, making the number of his friend Desmond Trevor, the US's ambassador.

«Hello?»

«Hi, Desmond. It's been a long time. Listen, do you remember that story about giving some problems to the Japanese?»

«Yes, what of it?»

«Well, it happens that I have something that might interest you right here in my hand. Are you free for lunch?»

* * *

* If you're in search for answers, try to watch the italian movie "Mediterraneo"

** The reference is to the Balcani's Syndrome, a series of illnesses and cases of cancer related to the illegal or not reported use of depleted uranium weapons by the Italian Army during the Balcan Wars.

PS. If you want to know who Parna is, you can read about here in Chapter 40 of the manga.


	10. Proscenium

_**Author's Notes**_

 _ **Hi again!^_^**_

 _ **This new chapter requested a bit of time to be finished, but at least it's finally ready.**_

 _ **Major Dante is not a creation of mine, but he becomes from my beta and great friend Apollonir, and from his fantastic Gate's story "A WORLD OF SHAME AND GLORY"**_

 _ **See you soon with the next one!^^**_

 _ **Cj Spencer**_

 _ **PS. The chapter's title comes from theatrical vocabulary, since the Proscenium is the**_ _ **metaphorical vertical plane of space which serves as the frame into which the audience observes the events, the place where the play take place. Even the next chapter will have a similar title.**_

* * *

9

Italy was a nation used to face dramatic earthquakes, but the truth was that in a nation where, even excluding the ancient buildings, more than half of the structures were completely deprived of seismic criteria every quake could turn into a potential disaster.

And the earthquake which had hit the Central Italy in the first days of November had proven to be really dramatic, with three entire towns wiped out almost completely, as much as many other villages all around.

Plus this, the region affected by the earthquake was a really distant and impervious one, in the heart of the Italian Apennines, so the rescue work had been really difficult since the beginning, and three days after the first quake there were still dozens of people buried alive under the ruins.

However, there was something new compared to the countless other earthquakes happened in Italy in recent years, and the subsequent search for survivors.

Immediately after the first rescues reached the place, even a special military unit did the same, taking place however not in the heart of the damaged zone but in a small valley on the other side of the mountain, toward Perugia. Orders were that every time a survivor badly injured was taken out of the debris it needed to be taken to one of the three special heliports, where military helicopters were ready to depart for the "special hospital".

During the third night of searches, in the almost completely destroyed town of Civitella del Lago, a group of rescuers of the Civil Protection found an aged man under an old house not far from the main church, badly injured and apparently dead.

A paramedic quickly reached them to feel his vital pulses.

«He's still alive!» he shouted after a brief visit, then he called for more help. «Red code! To the military heliport, quickly!»

Then a small group of soldiers reached the town's borders as fast as possible, finding the military Bell-202 with the engine already kindled, and when they finally put him on board the vehicle departed immediately, crossing the mountains and reaching the military camp after a brief journey into the night.

At a first glance it was an incredibly common provisory camp settled to provide first aid to the people hit by the quake, but the truth was that much more was hiding in those tents on the other side of the barbed wire, the guards and the alarms.

When the helicopter landed in the camp's provisory heliport, the soldiers unloaded the wounded man, finding Officer De Simoni, the camp's second in command after High Chief Giordani, to wait them.

«What do we have?»

«Male, third age, from Civitella. Internal bleeding, various traumas and lack of pulse.»

«To the tent N.4, to the queen! Hurry!»

The truth, in fact, was completely different. Many people, including the journalists, thought that it was just a special military hospital created to give support to a really bad situation, but in truth on its inside there weren't common doctors.

Maybe the Special Region's healing magic was not so scientific and rational like the Earthly medicine, not to mention that magic itself was still far from being understood by the Earthlings, but its miraculous effect were all but undeniable.

The Avion and the White Elves in particular were blessed with extraordinary healing abilities, but since there were no Elves in the FASI the burden to try to save all the poor guys was entirely over queen Isengardia and her maidens.

The queen had an incredible gift for such things, and her magic arts were so powerful that in those three days she had been able to literally drag countless people out from the depths of death, but all this was undoubtedly really tiresome for her, and after almost seventy-two hours of restless work she was at her limit.

«My queen, you need to rest a bit.» said one of the maidens when Isengardia, after yet another surgery, was forced to sit to avoid collapsing. «We can care of this by ourselves.»

«Have you looked around, Meeysia?» the queen replied. «These people are dying. We cannot let it happen without try to save them. No one ever rested since when that tremor happened, so why should I do it?»

In that moment De Simoni and two other paramedics entered in the tent with a new victim, an aged man in a very bad condition.

«Your grace, we need you!»

Yes, I'm here.

Almost staggering Isengardia reached the operating table, waiting for the human staff to connect the victim to the machines; then, after a brief moment of meditation, she put both of her hands over the man's chest, and when she closed the eyes, a pale, warm light surrounded both her and the victim.

Initially it seemed that even for that poor old man the life was returning to shine over his pale skin, but two minutes later the vital signals were still weak, and there were no signs of progress. The queen tried with all of her force, but ultimately the signals stopped completely, and even after a desperate attempt to reanimate him with common instruments the aged man died, leaving Isengardia exhausted and tearful.

«I'm sorry…» she mourned before fainting. «… I… tried… my best. I'm sorry…»

De Simoni helped the queen's maiden to lay her over a cot to let her rest, then, after having helped his men to take the body out from the tent, he reached the camp's main barrack, finding Giordani in live conference with the Prime Minister.

«The results are more than satisfactory, Sir. This earthquake has made even more damages than the Amatrice's one last August, but at the same time, even thanks to the FASI, we're counting less than half of the victims.»

«I understand.» Rigamonti replied from Rome «Good work, Giordani. Your squad is proving its potential every passing day.»

«Thank you, Sir. Initially I too was quite skeptic about the results we could have been able to reach, but now I must say it: magic is undoubtedly extraordinary. Thanks to the queen and her knowledge, we've been able to save people that would be dead for sure without their efforts, even using our most advanced medical resources.»

«I couldn't agree more, Giordani. This new source of power could become the engine to lead our nation to the most unthinkable goals in the international context.»

«It's sad that we're not able to use it. Unfortunately, we still need for the Special Region's autochthones to provide such power in this world.»

«A problem that we're already working to, my friend. For now, I trust in you and your squad to take care of such problems. The president has given the complete green light. From now on, the FASI will not need for his approval to be deployed, and it will be free to perform any such of mission simply with my personal authorization.»

«That's a good thing, Sir.»

«For now we'll take care of the internal problems mainly. However, the situation is becoming quite complicated in every corner of the world, so I suppose that we could request for the FASI's efforts even outside Italy soon enough. I trust you to prepare the squad for such missions in the shortest time possible.»

«It will be done, Sir. We're already working on it. We temporarily interrupted our training programs to provide help here in Umbria.»

«I must admit it. I didn't want to deploy the FASI initially, cause of the problems we faced last month with Japan.»

«Obviously Sir. Fortunately, if I can, I heard that the problem has been solved.»

«Not entirely, but for the moment I suppose we should be safe. I always thought that Talleri was a crazy bastard, but this time his effort has been quite useful. The documents we sent to the US will be more than enough to keep Motoi and his dogs in their place for a while. In the meantime, let's try to implement our camouflage abilities.»

«Right, sir.»

«Good night, Giordani.»

Rigamonti closed the communication, then Giordani turned to De Simoni.

«Report?»

«Today, we count thirty-six wounded successfully recovered, nine partially recovered and four deaths.»

«Missing ones?»

«Twenty-one victims are still under the debris. But at this point I doubt we could find someone still alive.

«I understand. This means there's no need for us here anymore. We'll wait till Bogorth will conclude his work in repairing the main routes to the collapsed towns, then we'll make return to Rome. Tell queen Isengardia and her maidens that they can depart for Istrana this night if they want. Dispose of the hypnotic amnesia for the wounded, and refresh the victims' list, then you can go to sleep.»

«Yes sir.»

* * *

General Pedersoli was in his office in the HQ's main building, but that one was destined to be a special morning.

Operation Columbus had achieved many important results since its beginning, but the economic treaties, the political alliances and other such things were just one of the many plans that Italy and its government had on schedule for the Special Region.

Now that Castria's region was completely under control, it was time to expand the Italian influence to west, on the other side of the Mountain Range of Ice and Snow. However, that one wasn't just about to be a mere political or military expansion to west, but something a bit more important and… practical.

«Sir, Major Dante is here.» said his attendant in the interphone

«Let him pass, thank you.» he replied, and after a brief moment Major Vincenzo Dante, the Falcon-9's leader, crossed the door of the office.

As a member of the Alpini Major Dante was trained to face the worst climate conditions, but after all they were still located not far from the tallest mountain range of the entire Special Region, in the heart of Northern Falmart, and the Major's long, heavy military coat completely soaked in rain and mud proved that such difficult conditions were a hard quest even for someone like him.

«Major Dante reporting for duty, Sir.»

«At ease, Major.» then he turned for a brief moment toward the window behind his desk, where the raindrops were following to tinkle like many tiny bells. «A really bad morning, don't you think?»

«So so, Sir.»

«And unfortunately this is just the beginning. Winter is coming, and hearing our local friends soon this entire region will be completely isolated from the rest of the world.»

«And I suppose this is the reason for why you called my squad back to the base, General.»

«Relax, Major. No one doubts about you or your squad. I'm more than sure that you could face any sort of difficulty stronger than this. In fact, I've not called you here in Castria to spare you a bad mission, but to assign you to an even worse one.»

«Sir?» replied Dante a bit surprised

At that point the General took a strange, azure stone out from one of his desk drawers, showing it to Dante.

«Do you know what this is, right?»

«I think it's called enthyum.»

«Precisely. And as you probably already know, this is the engine which supports all of this world.»

«Of course, Sir. As far as I know, this is the stone that's granted to this world's mages to make use of magic.»

«Exactly. This stone is used for alchemy, magical studies, even to create the magic staffs used by the sorcerers. We don't know how to use it or how it's able to provide this power to the Special Region's inhabitants, but its power is all but insignificant.»

«But what sort of use could we find for such material? We're not able to use magic, Sir.»

«Not for now. But the government, and not only the government, is really interested to explore the magic's possible uses in our world. And the study over this mineral could prove to be a first step in the right direction.»

Then Pedersoli got up from the chair, heading to the region's map hanging on the wall.

«The locals say that anciently the Empire used to extract enthyum for the biggest part from a vast number of mining caves located in all of the Mountain Range. Most of those mines are exhausted, but we received news that there should be other sites in the valley of the Terminus River. The orders for your squad are to reach the valley and search for the said sites following the rumors we've been able to collect.»

«As you command, Sir.»

Despite his respectful answer, Pedersoly easily noted the doubtful glance in the eyes of his Major.

«You can speak.»

«Me and my squad are Alpini, sir. We fought in the mountains of Lebanon and along the Hindu-Kush in Afghanistan. But those were mountains we knew, and that we were prepared to face.

These mountains… are unknown. We're not aware of what sort of problems we'll be called to face, not to mention that face such enormous mountain range with the upcoming winter could be really difficult, even for us.

If I can Sir, should not be better to wait for the next spring?»

«Relax, Major. You'll not stay on those goddam mountains for a long time. Thanks to the directions we received from the locals, we've been able to find a pass not far from here, the only one safe enough to be crossed by vehicles. Unfortunately, this pass is located in a bad position, and as the snowstorms begin it will be completely covered in a brief time. Obviously, if the search for the enthyum was the sole problem, there would be no need to run. But unfortunately, this is not the sole reason for which I'm sending you out there.»

«Should I suppose that it has something to do with our problems with the communications?»

«We tried all possible solutions to solve our problem with the interferences coming from Arlea, but none of them has been useful. So, we decided to resort to a drastic solution: we're creating a communication system which uses a vast number of antennas that will be placed all along the mountain range, from the far north till Arlea's borders. This should be enough to obtain radio coverage over the entire northern Falmart, from Castria to the Empire's eastern borders.

However, someone is repeatedly attacking some of our construction sites, and we've already been forced to postpone the works' end. There are almost twenty squads out there, and I don't want to leave them without coverage one minute longer.»

«Understood, Sir. In this case, me and my team are more than ready to provide our help.»

«Very well. Reports say that the attacks have been all performed by an heterogeneous group of demi-humans made by orcs, avions and cobolds. We suspect of a local band of marauders which used to live on this side of the mountain and has been forced to leave when we arrived. They should have a hideout somewhere in the valley, probably not far from the village of Neperia.

Your primal objective is to take care of this problem, then you'll be free to search and signal the potential mines for when we'll be able to excavate them after winter. When you'll have finished, you'll come back to Castria from south, crossing the Southern Pass and passing from the Arlea Forest.»

«The Southern Pass is located inside the Empire. We could be found out.»

«The garrisons close to the mountain range are always half-empty during winter, and in any case most of their army has been sent to the south, to face the Japanese. So, you should be safe. But in any case, your orders are to avoid as much as possible the most frequented routes and streets along your journey, since the valley too is heavily put under the Empire's influence. And if you'll be forced to reach a village or a city, you'll need to do it completely undercover: which means no uniforms, no modern instruments and no weapons that you cannot hide. Is everything clear?»

«Perfectly sir.»

«Very well. However, since as you said the places you'll be called to explore will be completely new for you, you'll not be completely alone in this journey.»

On that moment, someone knocked at the door.

«General sir, I'm here.» said a female voice

«Perfect timing. Come, my dear.»

When the door opened, Dante found himself face to face with a female Cobold, half human and half dog, with orange, short and shiny fur, pointed ears, human traits and yellow, fierce eyes. She was dressed as a hunter, and probably she was barely twenty years old.

«Major Dante, this is Zori. Your local guide.»

«Nice to meet you, Major Dante.» she said in a safe, strong-willed way. «I hope we'll work well together.»

«I have my own scouts in my team, Sir.»

«Not like her. She comes from the other side of the range, and she knows the places you're about to visit like the back of her hands. Trust me, she'll be a fine support for the Falcon-9.

Plus, this is an order. The mission begins tomorrow morning. Prepare yourselves.»

«Yes Sir!»

In the same moment when Dante and Zori were leaving the room, Florenzi entered, presenting a document to the General.

«General, the definitive list of the earthquake's victims.»

«Thank you, Mauro.»

Pedersoli looked it, but suddenly an astonished and upset expression appeared on his face.

«God, no…»

* * *

In order to avoid unwanted attention, King Deiphobos and his war council decided to move the meeting with Reich's ambassador in a less showy area of the palace, in the royal family's private library, and pretend that the newcomers were simply delegates from a trading company which wanted to discuss some problems with his majesty to solve a dispute over the taxes put on their goods.

When the ambassador and his servants entered in the room followed by a couple of big and apparently heavy coffers, they found Deiphobos and his council already sat around the marble table at the room's center, and contrarily to the common costumes none of them got up to salute the ambassador.

At the opposite, the king had his sword leaning against his chair, and when the ambassador approached he made sure that he could note its gently caress on the hilt.

«Welcome to Calibria, people of Reich.» he said in an almost threatening tone

«We thank you greatly for having accepted our request, Your Majesty. Reich is happy to have the blessed opportunity to meet the mighty lord which has been able to stop the Empire and extend his dominion to all the vast Plains.»

«Stop the pleasantries, Reichian!» replied an impatient Aristhes. «Name your terms and go away.»

«And this is?» asked the ambassador clearly annoyed

«This is my best general» replied the king. «And he's the man that will keep you firm while I behead you if you'll give me a reason to do it, so for your own sake pay big attention to your own words if you care for your life.»

The ambassador hesitated for a brief moment, trembling like a scared children much to the Generals' fun, then he started to talk.

«In this case, I'll be as direct as possible. Contrarily to what you can think, I'm not here to speak about war. I'm here to speak of peace.»

«A strange word to hear by someone from Reich.» Dyomedes said. «I always thought that it was absent from your bastard language.»

«Captain Dyomedes is right.» Pharmenon said in a better and gentler way. «Since its foundation, Reich has known nothing but war.»

«Things are changing a bit in our empire. Our latest ruler the Magnificent Ygraine, may Fuhrer protect her, doesn't want to walk along the same path of her ancestors. She refuses to fight unnecessary wars, and her only purpose is to serve and protect her people. That's the reason for why I'm here. To ask for your help.»

The members of the war council astonished looked each other, almost in search of confirm by their fellows of what they had just heard.

«Peace!?» Phyleos repeated

«In your case, yes. The war is moving our actions, but it will be not a war against you, nor someone else in the Plains.

We have only one enemy. The Empire.»

«Do you want to start a war against the Empire!?» Kleymenos said.

«It's not just a war, great Captain. I cannot explain you our reasons, but trust me if I say you that everything we've done till now has not been with no reason. Now circumstances are forcing us to start a war against the Empire, but our empress doesn't want to provoke an useless war for the sake of one that we cannot avoid to fight.»

«Reich fights wars since its foundation.» Pharmeneon observed. «What price can have to fight one of two wars more?»

«As I said, our benevolent Empress wants to put an end to all this. Her purpose is to stop any aggressive war, and turn Reich into a peaceful nation. But in order to do it, we need to fight one last war. Just one, and all of this will end.»

«You're crazy.» Phyleos said «Do you really think we could believe you? You Reichians know nothing but war and massacres. And now should we think that a little girl has been enough to make at ease all of you!?»

«The loyalty to the Imperial Family is the column which sustains our empire. Our first Emperor came among us and turned us into a mighty nation when we were just savages, and our debt with him and his descendants will never be repaid. To support our Empress in everything and obey her every command is a duty to which no-one in Reich would never dream to disobey. Empress Ygraine commanded us to do this, and we'll obey to her till the death if necessary.

All we ask is that you grant a safe access across your territory for our army.»

«Safe access!?» shouted Dyomedes. «So that you can approach undisturbed our city, and then attack us when we'll be defenseless? Maybe do you think we're just a bunch of idiots?»

«We have no hostile intentions toward Calibria, Mighty General.» calmly replied the Ambassador. «And to prove it, we'll let you decide the route our troops will follow to reach the southern border of the Empire.

And obviously, we'll not walk over your earth without pay you the proper prize.»

The ambassador then nodded to his servants, which opened the two coffers, revealing to the council's eyes more gold, jewels and gems than many of them had never seen in their life, a proper and true treasure.

«This is just half of the prize we're ready to pay you in exchange for your aid. The other half will be payed when our troops will have safely crossed the Plains.»

«How many poor bastards have you killed to collect all this?» provocatively asked Aristhes

«All this things come from our Empress' personal treasure. A please from Her Highness to prove her benevolence and her strong will to reach a pacific agreement with you.»

Then the king, much for his councilors' disbelief, got up from his chair and reached the coffers, passing the hand among the jewels, the coins and all the other things while his eyes begun to shine like the gold in front of him.

«Please, Ambassador.» said Pharmeneon at that point. «We don't doubt about your words of course. But I'm sure you can understand us if we find them a bit… strange.»

«I understand wise man. But as I said, my loyalty goes to my Empress. Her judgment is always right, no matter what it can be. She's the connection between us and Fuhrer; he and the high priest are his heralds on this world, blessed with the duty to lead Reich to glory and prosperity. If she says that this is the right way to do it, then I'm ready to obey her even at the cost of my life.»

«We'll think about it!» suddenly said Deiphobos, pursuing all ones to turn toward him

«I'm happy to hear it, my king.» the ambassador replied, the first one to recover from the astonishment.

«I'll make you know my decision by tomorrow. Meanwhile, I must ask you to return to your camp, wherever it is. I don't want someone find out that we're talking with you Raichian scum.»

«Obviously, great Lord. As you wish.»

«But… my king…» Aristhes tried to say

«And feel yourself free to leave these things here.» Deiphobos said in an higher tone «They could… slow you along the road.»

«With pleasure, Your Highness.»

«Go, now. Your dwarven perfume is disgusting me.»

Then the Ambassador and his servants left the room, leaving the king alone with his council.

«My Lord, please tell me that you're not really disposed to accept their requests.» Aristhes said again.

«The General is right!» said Kleytos. «Reich's word counts like shit! You can perfume it, but its essence will never change! You can have faith on them like you could have for a dog with rabies! I don't want such scum on my land!»

«It's my land, Kleytos!» Deiphobos shouted. «I hope you'll not forget it!»

«S… sorry, my king…»

«Did you look in his eyes?» said Pharmeneon. «He's really devoted to his Empress. Maybe even Reich has finally found a ruler worth of her role. If there's a little hope to reach an agreement with one of the most powerful forces of this continent, don't you think that we should at least try to catch it?»

«And I should believe that a brat with a crown has been able to put all those savages to their place all of sudden?» replied Kleymenos. «With all respect, Wise Mage, but it's really difficult to believe it.»

«In almost one hundred years, Reich has known nothing but war. They turned their little nation into a powerful empire faster than any other human kingdom in history. But maybe their defeat against the Singing People has changed them, made them… wiser. I don't know if this Empress Ygraine's attempts are so kind and pure like his ambassador tried to make us believe, but I think that the sole fact that she's trying to put the word before the sword is enough to have faith on her.»

«With all respect, Dean.» said Aristhes. «I'm not disposed to put my city's destiny in the hands of a young girl which could be killed in any moment.»

«You also said that you didn't want to see Calibria burn. They offered us a pacific solution, but we all know what will happen if we refuse.»

The generals remained silent, anxiously trembling while they thought at the inevitable consequence of which the dean was referring to.

«Calibria is still recovering from the last war against the Empire of three years ago.» Heraclyus said. «I have no doubts about our soldiers' power of our walls' resistance, but honestly I don't know if we could be able to face such similar siege once again.»

«But fight a war against Reich and win could have an enormous echo in all Falmart.» Kleymenos observed. «If we manage to put them in their place, it would be the proof of Calibria's might, and we could become the greatest military power not only in the Plains, but in the entire Northern Falmart.»

«Only till the next assault.» Pharmeneon replied. «Reich is like the Empire. They never leave their defeats unpunished.»

«Let's suppose that you're right. What will happen when the Empire will be fallen, and Reich will become the most powerful nation of this world? Who do you think will be the next ones?»

«A war against the Empire will be incredibly long and painful, and despite all of its power and technology there's no guarantee that Reich will be victorious. The difference in soldiers and land is overwhelming, and Reich will depend on us to assure a continuous provision of troops to the frontline.»

«The Dean could be right.» Dyomedes said. «And in any case, we could even cut off our agreement in any moment. If we do it while Reich will be in the middle of its war against the Empire, this could turn into a dramatic situation for them.» then he smiled «This could be their end.»

All ones turned again toward the King, which however smiled almost amused.

«I need to drink.» he said going away. «And to fuck. Provide me the biggest jar of wine we have, then send the hottest bitch of this fucking palace to my room. I'll make her cum so hard that when I'll have finished she'll neither be able to remember her name.»


	11. Iposcenium

**_Notes._**

 ** _Hi again._**

 ** _Finally I've been able to post a new chapter without make you wait one month^^_**

 ** _By the way, with this we've probably reached 1/3 of the story. From now on, things will begin to change quikly, at least for the next 10 chapters._**

 ** _Thanks as always to all of you for the time you spend reading and/or commenting this story^^_**

 ** _See you soon!^_^_**

 ** _Cj Spencer_**

* * *

10

Since they were taught to be multitasking squads assigned to long and usually risky missions outside Castria, the Falcon Units were generally made of soldiers coming from many different divisions, so as to provide every single team with the most complete training and preparation.

The Falcon-9 was the sole exception: all of its members were from the Alpini corps, and its main work was to provide surveillance in the mountainous region between the Arlea Forest and the impervious Mountain Range of Ice and Snow; they had been a unit even before being assigned to the Special Region, known as the Sixth Special Mountain Regiment "Valcellina", and its leader, Major Dante, was a decorated war hero with a great number of missions overseas between Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Kosovo.

Thirty-two years old Captain Arturo Santalba, a half-Austrian son of shepherds from Sappada, was the second in command, and in all his career as a soldier Dante had never known someone better than him in logistic and tactical maneuvers, while Lieutenants Marco Gazza and Elena Munaron, from Aosta and Brescia respectively, were the best among the best in mechanical and electrical engineering. The Senior Sergeant called Salvo Pasetti, and contrarily to the Alpini's tradition he wasn't from the massive northern mountains, but from the sunny and beautiful Matera, but despite this he was the most expert in mountain warfare of the entire squad, and he had spent in the Corps more than half of his life.

Other members worthy of consideration were Soldiers Betton and Sarpi, Dante's attendant and the explosives expert respectively, but the entire Falcon-9 in general was made of some of the best soldiers assigned to Operation Columbus.

The sole new member was Soldier Giorgia Mazzega, but it was a necessary addition: since the Falcon teams' work was to make contact with native populations in order to create links and bridges, it was necessary to provide to all of them someone instructed and trained to deal with such affairs, and in case there was no one in the squad to take such a role, the High Command had taken care to train and instruct a certain group of selected soldiers to assign to said units. Soldier Mazzega was one of them, but after a brief moment of adaptation Dante and his man had begun to appreciate and respect Giorgia's work and abilities, admitting her in their little group as a proper and true member of the Falcon-9. She had never seen a war scenario in all of her career, and someone could say that she was decidedly too kind to be a true soldier, but despite this her experience in diplomatic questions was absolute, and so she had quickly earned her teammates' respect.

A different situation was Zori's one. Like most of the Cobolds she was smart and really skillful in hunt and scouting, but always like most of the Cobolds the concepts of command chain, discipline and respect for the officers were completely meaningless for her: refusing to change in something more appropriated for a soldier she had obtained from the General to keep her skimpy, not to say provocative huntress outfit, and since she was the sole one to know the intricate net of paths, trails and streets along the mountains she had obtained to follow Dante inside the head jeep of the column which had left Castria before sunrise headed to the other side of the Mountain Range.

Since the VM-90 and the Pumas were too unwieldy to face the narrow gorges that cross the mountains to reach the Terminus Valley where the expedition was heading, for that particular mission the Falcon-9 had been equipped with four Iveco LMV provided with 12.7mm automatic turrets, the best of the best of the Italian light vehicles.

At midday the column had reached the far deep of the Mountains' forests already, following a road that hearing Zori and the guys of the intelligence was the most comfortable and safe to reach the Azingard Valley, where the first antenna was under construction and they were sure to find a place to rest during their journey: however it was necessary to reach it as fast as possible, since it was highly probable that with the first snowstorms all paths between Castria and the Valley were destined to remain closed for most of the winter, and judging by the great cold and the grey clouds above them it was just a matter of time before this would have happened.

All around them, the forest was a single, giant wall of pines, chestnut trees and oaks, and more than one time Dante, as the head car's driver, was forced to suddenly steer in order to avoid some trunk fell on the road.

«Can't you go a bit faster, boss?» Zori asked to Dante, which was at the wheel.

«Sorry if I try to be a bit cautious, this road is a goddam disaster.»

«It's not very used in this period. Most of the tribes which used to live in these woods escaped when Reich begun to attack the hills, the other ones instead probably have already migrated to the south because of the upcoming winter. I doubt we'll meet someone.»

But the truth was completely different, and thanks to her animal senses Zori was the first one to find it out.

A couple of hours later, just when she was about to enjoy a bit of rest, the young cobold noted a sinister shadow hiding among the trees not far from the road, which rapidly disappeared when she tried to look at it better.

«What the…»

However, it took her just a couple of seconds to find out others, many other similar shadows regrouped all around them, and when she noticed they were clearly following them, a thrill ran along her spine.

Given the period and the place where they were, there was just one hypothesis about their identity.

«Shit! Stop!»

«What!?» Dante replied in astonishment

«Stop this goddam car now!»

The Major obeyed, stopping the jeep so suddenly that the other cars behind him almost hit each other doing the same thing.

«What the hell are you doing, you goddam…» Dante tried to say.

However, less than a second later, almost twenty strange and massive creatures appeared from the forest all around them, surrounding the column and pointing any sort of weapons against the soldiers before they could be able to do the same: there were both male and female, the shortest one was eight feet tall, and even though they were humans from the waist up, apart from the pointed ears, the rest of their bodies had an equine form. They were…

«Centaurs.» grumbled Zori. «What are they doing here? They should've already migrated south.»

Their intentions were clearly all except friendly, and despite being armed only with bows, lances and claymores their attitudes and dimensions were more than enough to pursue the soldiers on the turrets to point their machine guns against them, and everything turned into a dramatic Mexican standoff.

«Orders, Sir!» Betton said from the third car «What do we do?»

«We're surrounded! We're surrounded!» Pasetti shouted from the second jeep's turret

«Get ready to fire!»

«No, wait!» Zori shouted. «Don't shoot! They're not hostile!»

«What means, "they're not hostile"?» Santalba replied. «Are you fucking blind?»

«Please Major, listen to me.» If they wanted to attack us, we would be already dead.»

The tension rose, and it almost seemed that any moment could become the right one for a massacre, but at the end, after countless hesitations, Dante ordered to hold fire.

«Let's suppose you're right. How do you explain all this?»

«We're in their territory. I thought they were already migrated south, but it's clear that they're still here. Centaurs don't like that someone enters in their land.»

«And this half-dog should be our guide.» Santalba sarcastically commented

«Leave this to me. I'll try to talk them. Maybe we'll be able to solve it with some apologies.»

The Major reflected for a moment, but at the end he found out that leave the problem to Zori was the sole possible solution.

«All right, try to explain the situation.»

«Aye aye, Sir.»

«Dante to squad, remain inside the cars.» he then said with the radio. «Zori will try to talk them.» but after that he looked at the cobold in a very threatening way «But if they'll do something strange, I'll immediately order my men to fire.»

«In this case, remember that I'm on your side. Shit, why did I accept this task?»

At that point, after having opened the jeep's door, Zori came out with raised hands, slowly approaching the centaurs in front of the column in the most absolute silence.

The centaurs' leader, a middle-aged warrior armed with a massive sword, ordered to his men to lower their weapons and reached Zori, starting to talk with her in the no-man land.

Since they were talking a local dialect no one in Dante's squad was able to understand what they were saying, but after almost five minutes of talks and judging from the young girl's tone, it was more and more clear that the situation was quite complicated, and that simple apologies risked being insufficient to solve it.

«This will be a real nuisance.» Dante commented, and Zori's expression when she came back was more than enough to prove it.

While the centaurs' commander left the no-man land Zori beckoned Dante to leave the car, and he obeyed after having said to his soldiers to wait for him.

«So? What did they said?»

«We have a problem. This is not just a simple centaur clan. They're Clan Reywlak.»

«Reywlak?»

«The most powerful and respected clan in the north. The warrior I was speaking with is their king, Kerion.»

«Did you explain them the situation?»

«I did it, but it's not enough.»

«What do you mean? Did you say that we're sorry for having entered in their territory?»

«That's not the point, Major. In fact, this is not their territory.»

«What!? And so, what's the problem?»

«They know who we… you are, Dante. And they saw what you've done to Reich's troops in the battle for Castria. Kerion's clan has lost more than half of its northern territory because of it, and they've lost almost one third of their warriors in the useless attempt to retake it. Then you've appeared from nowhere, and wiped away the most powerful army of this world in just a couple of days without one single lost. They're… scared.»

«Scared!? Of us?»

«They surveilled your troops' movements in the last months, and what you're doing on the other side of the mountains. That's the reason for which they're still here. They fear you're trying to extend your influence across the Range, threatening what remains of their territory.»

«We don't have such intentions. Our operations are absolutely pacific.»

«I told 'em, but they don't believe me. Not completely. They ask for a proof.»

«They can reach Castria and speak with General Pedersoli. I have nothing to prove we're harmless, apart for my word.»

«It's not so simple. Money and words have no use for the centaurs. Honor is the sole thing they recognize. They ask for proof of your honor to trust you.»

«What kind of proof?»

Zori hesitated for a long moment: it wasn't a good sign, not at all.

«They want a hostage.»

Hearing such words, even a trained and expert soldier like Dante couldn't do nothing but show all of his astonishment.

«What!?»

«It's an ancient centaurian tradition. The clans use to exchange hostages in order to prove their honor and the fact that they trust each other. They're ready to exchange one of their warriors with one of yours.»

«Absolutely not! I'll not play with the life of my soldiers!»

«In this case, they'll not allow us to go further. On the opposite, if we accept their terms, they swear to protect the hostage we'll please them with their lives, and return it when our mission will be over. Obviously at the condition that we'll do the same.»

Dante covered his face with the hands, not knowing what to do, while Kerion and the other centaurs followed to look at him waiting for his answer.

«It's not that I doubt of them. But I cannot entrust them one of my guys. I need all of them for this mission. But maybe… maybe we can come back to Castria, and ask for the General's help. There are other centaurs in Castria, and maybe if they guarantee for us…»

«I fear this is not an option, Major.» Zori replied turning her eyes to west. «Look.»

The Major then looked in the same direction, and what he saw in the sky was all but good: dark and menacing clouds covered in sparks were descending across the mountains, rapidly advancing against them.

«It's the Troll's Breath.» the cobold explained. «The winter is marching against us faster than expected, and will be here before the twilight. If we come back now, there will not be enough time to cross the mountains before the passes remain blocked by the snow.»

It was an ironic, but even dramatic situation: regardless of the choice, even considering a risky decision to force the blockade, it was necessary to make a sacrifice.

Since Dante was a soldier and an officer entrusted with a mission to complete, return to Castria and waste the opportunity to cross the mountains was not an option, but in this case it was necessary to make a dramatic choice.

Being the squad leader, he had the power to choose for himself, but he didn't want to take such responsibility before having talked with his guys.

«Tell them that I'm about to speak with my men.»

«Yes.»

Dante then called for a meeting with the entire squad, explaining them the entire situation, and receiving in exchange astonished glances and worried sighing.

«That's the point, fellows. We have no time to come back, and by evening we must be on the other side of those mountains. Our mission's success passes from here.»

«I say, no talks.» Pasetti said. «We tried to be diplomatic, but a mission is a mission. They say they fear us. Let's give them one more reason to do it.»

«I fear this would be a very bad idea, old fool.»

«How dare you, you little fur-girl?»

«Wait, Pasetti.» Dante stopped him turning to Zori. «What do you mean?»

«Not to mention that despite a certain victory two or three of us probably would not see the end of the battle. Despite this, there are not less than twenty different demi-human tribes between us and the southern front of the Mountain Range. If they'll think we're hostile, our journey could become quite… problematic. To be euphemistic.»

All the soldiers pointed their glances to the ground: that was not the first time that the Valcellina was forced to face a standoff situation, but that was the first time where it was asked to one of them to face such difficult task.

«I'm your commander, and I have the power to make a choice by myself. But before doing it, I want to ask it: is there a volunteer?»

No one spoke. In their long career as soldiers they had faced many situations involving kidnapped people or civilians taken as hostages in warfare scenarios, but that was the first time that they were asked to become hostages themselves.

«I'll do it.» someone suddenly said

Everyone turned on the same direction, finding themselves face to face with a frightened, but even determined glance.

«Mazzega…» Dante said

«I offer myself to do it. You're a close squad, and you have a mission to accomplish. I'm just a newbie. My exclusion will not be a burden for the unit.»

«But Giorgia, you're our guide.» the Major tried to object

«You have miss Zori.» she replied with a sincere smile. «She'll be more than able to do my job.»

A long silence filled the air once again, but at the end the entire squad accepted their young member's sacrifice, saluting her with respect.

According to the exchange's rules, to both hostages was allowed to keep its weapons if the other faction agreed, and much with Dante's surprise the centaurs accepted with no hesitation to let Giorga free to keep the rifle, the gun, the knife and some loaders.

«As I said, honor is important for the centaurs.» Zori commented. «Letting her keep her weapons, they want demonstrate that they consider her an honorable person.»

At that point Giorgia got up over one of the centaurs' back, and Dante approached to salute her one last time.

«We'll come back for you, soldier.»

«Thank you, Sir.» she replied with no apparent fear. «I'll be fine.»

«See you next spring.»

Then, finally, the centaurs left, leaving behind probably their youngest member, a young female with long and pale brown hair and blue eyes, which differently from Giorgia had been forced to surrender her bow and knife to her companions before their departure.

Dante and his members remained still to observe the centaurs till they finally disappeared in the forest together with their companion, then they ruefully returned to the jeeps to proceed with their mission.

«Do you understand me?» Dante asked in Ludorian

«Yes.» she answered with respect. «I'm the sole one in my clan to speak the human language. I suppose that's the reason for which they chose me.»

«In this case, let's try to get along. We have more than one mission to accomplish, and I have no time to be your babysitter. Come with us, stay in a corner, don't give us problems and everything will be fine. Am I clear?»

«Perfectly.»

«And for your own safety, pray that my soldier will be safe and sound when we'll meet with your fellows next spring, or you'll have to find a new clan.»

* * *

The next day, Reich's ambassador returned to Calibria, and as agreed he showed up in the throne room, where he found King Deiphobos and most of his advisors waiting for him.

At the throne's side there were the chests with the first part of the bribe used by the ambassador in the attempt to obtain the king's benevolence, but judging from his eyes he wasn't still sure if it should be considered a good thing.

Apart from the same Deiphobos, all the other advisors' glances were more than eloquent in testifying their opinion toward Reich and its ambassador, starting from General Aristhes, which seemed to the point of jumping against the ambassador and pierce him with his sword.

«Welcome back, Ambassador.»

«Good day, Great King. May Fuhrer bless your city and your people.»

«Don't dirt our soil with your false God, you Reichian beast!» Kleytos shouted in anger, only to be stopped by the King with a hand's movement.

«So, great king.» said an ambassador completely deaf to the insults. «I waited one day as you ordered. What's your answer for my blessed Empress?»

Deiphobos remained silent for a moment, then he ordered to a servant to give him a coup of wine, which he started to drink greedy wetting the rich vest with alcohol and spittle.

«Yesterday you said that you're here because your Child Empress ordered it to you.»

«I'm always happy to obey my Empress, Great King.» he answered trying with no success to hide his disbelief «She is our ruler, and, as much as your devoted servants, we too are ready to satisfy any request she makes.»

«Forget about her, my friend. Honestly, tell me: do you approve all this? I mean… are you happy to be here, on knees, to dirt my precious marble with your dirty vests, poison my room with your stinky perfume, to beg for something so unusual for your savage people like a simple right of passage, when you could simply put my city under siege and throw all of us among Emroy's arms?»

Once again the ambassador hesitated, looking the ground in the attempt to avoid the king's eyes.

«What I think has no importance.»

«Just pretend that is has. What do you think of me? And my city?»

After a couple of seconds, the light in the ambassador's eyes finally changed, and he returned to look at the king in the most contemptuous and disgusted way.

«I think that you are just a small, arrogant, fat pig, with no honor nor pride, king of a useless and stinky little city made of mud and dung, full of ignorant men and brothel's bitches, which I would be more than happy to burn to ash, before impaling your fat body on a pike as an offer of blood for our great God Fuhrer, for the glory and pride of the glorious Reich Empire, the sole ruler of this world.»

Even before the ambassador could end his speech all of the king's advisors had the hands already closed around the hilt of their swords, but surprisingly the king answered to that spontaneous and dramatic externalization of hate with a humorous smile.

«We accept.» he said after a brief moment.

The word astonishment proved to be more than an euphemism to clarify his advisors' state hearing such words.

«My king…» Aristhes tried to say

«We'll send an ambassador to Reich when we'll have decided the route your armies will need to follow across my land. For now, go back to your Empress, and say her that your sincerity has avoided a war.»

«But… but…» replied an ambassador in disbelief, which immediately after having finished talking had already begun to silently pray for his upcoming death.

«You've been honest. You said what you were thinking. If you hadn't done it, you would be already dead. I could never entrust my city's fate to a liar.»

«But, my king, maybe you should…» Aristhes tried again to protest, just to be immediately silenced by Deiphobos' icy gaze.

«Go, ambassador. Your work is done.»

«Y… yes. Thank you, Great… Great King…»

At that point, after having made a genuinely respectful bow, the ambassador left the room, and immediately after Deiphobos violently got up from his throne, tremendously hitting Aristhes in the face with a golden scepter taken from Reich's chest of tributes.

«I'll not say it again.» said the king while the young general was still semiconscious. «Don't object my decisions in front of others.»

«Y… yes… my King…» he barely managed to say while spitting blood

Then, Deiphobos turned to the other counselors, who remained in their place without doing or saying something.

«Prepare my chariot.»

* * *

«Ok guys, that's enough for today!» Lunardi said to his soldiers and the little group of locals which had offered to assist them in rebuilding the temple.

Both the inside and the outside were now finally free from any sign of debris, and the true works were able to begin.

«From tomorrow» Molteni said. «We'll be able to entirely dedicate ourselves to the renovations.»

«How much time you think we'll need to secure the building?»

«I made a primal checkup both to the basement and the supports: the damages seem much less serious than I initially expected. We'll reinforce the basement with a layer of bitumen and repair the damaged columns using our steel bars. I've already received the local quartermaster's authorization.»

«Why do you say "we'll make"?» Stefanini protested while drinking from her bottle. «You should say "You'll make", you goddam loafer.»

«If you have enough breath to protest, maybe you have it for some extra-work, or not?» the architect cheerfully replied, immediately avoiding the bottle thrown against him by the exhausted girl

«Ok guys, let's go back.»

However, while Lunardi and his men were crossing the city's market square, still full of people despite the sun had already begun to disappear behind the hills, a big parade of soldiers, chariots and triclinia appeared from the street which from the square headed to the palace, capturing the crowd's attentions.

«What's happening?» Niang asked

«I don't know.» Lunardi answered as surprised as him.

The soldiers surrounded the royal pulpit, and at the end king Deiphobos in person appeared aboard his golden chariot. The king stopped behind the pulpit, he left the chariot, then he climbed the stairs, appearing in front of all of his people while the notice of his arrival pursued more and more Calibrians to reach the square from every corner of the city.

Before Deiphobos begun to talk, Lunardi, blended in the crowd together with his men, noted with a bit of concern both the dark gaze and the big wound on Aristhes' face, confused among the other ministers, but like all the other ones he diverted once again his attention when the king finally started his speech.

«People of Calibria! Rejoice! Today, like yesterday, like tomorrow, like every single day in the past and future, our city shines in glory and might! We're the luckiest persons in the entire world, since we live in a city blessed by all the gods in earth, sky and sea! Our bodies will die, centuries will pass, but Calibria's glory will never end! And I say, it's time to celebrate our greatness like never before! Drink the wine! Eat the meat! Fuck your partners! Starting from now, and for seven entire days, I proclaim an endless period of festivities! Glorify ourselves with the blessing our Gods have put upon us! May your power live till the stones will turn to dust, our jewel! Our pride! Our Calibria!»

The square exploded in one single, astonishing cry, and all people applauded, loudly invoking their king with honey words, raising chalices to his honor, completely astonished but more than happy nevertheless for that unexpected gift.

«Long live Calibria! – Long live king Deiphobos!»

«We should propose him for a place in our government!» Torrisi shouted to be heard by Lunardi. «The ones like him are rare in Italy!»

Lunardi had not the same opinion on a first sight, but despite this the situation seemed to amuse him.

«Maybe a bit of fun will not be a bad thing even for us!» then he turned toward Niang. «Go call the others! For tonight, you're all free!»

«Of course, Sir!»

* * *

That evening, the entirety of Calibria turned into a giant, single carnival: thousands of candles, magic balls and other lights were lit in every room, every house, and every street; bards, minstrels and orchestras filled the air with the sound emitted by any sort of instrument, and by order of the king, which offered to personally cover all costs, all of the wineries, taverns and brothels opened their doors to let wine, food and whores flood in all city.

Even Lunardi and the rest of Falcon-1 let themselves transport by the festivities, and in the blink of an eye half of them were already drunk, dancing and cheering like children in the heart of all that madness.

Wang, which was with no doubts the weakest one in handling his liquor, begun to sing in Mandarin half-naked after barely a couple of beer chalices while dancing with three whores at the same time; Cassetti accepted a food challenge with a massive royal guard, managing to eat almost six entire chickens before running to the closest bathroom; Niang entered in an arm wrestle challenge, defeating every single opponent brave or drunk enough to face him.

Only Lunardi and a few others managed to remain sane, and in the middle of the party, not far from the market square, the Captain met Sadee returning from the academy.

«So you too know how to enjoy life!» the elf said with a smile.

«Did you have any doubts?» he replied offering her a glass of cider «Where are Giuseppe and Medea?»

«They're still on work! Giuseppe's presentation is three days from now, and he still has something to do! Medea offered to stay with him!»

«And you?»

«I did everything I could! Now it's up to him!»

«What will be the argument of his thesis?»

«It's a surprise! But trust me, if everything goes according to plans, it will be a great show!»

Then, both of them looked at the party in front of them.

«Not bad, don't you think?» she said

«It almost seems like my town's annual celebrations. But you're right, they're not even similar to these ones.»

«How much time has passed since you've been home the last time?»

«I don't even remember it. Two years. Maybe more. Me and my father are having some… problems since when they assigned me to the GATE's project.»

«And your mother?»

«They divorced when I was a child. I don't know where she is now. I lost contact with her even before I met you.»

«Doesn't your father miss you?»

«Sometimes. His father died when the gate has been discovered during the war, so he tends to have a bit… of a negative opinion about all this. He thinks that it's all a bit too much problematic to handle it.»

«He was a soldier like you, right?»

«Of course. But he left the Army longtime ago. Now he lives in his hometown, not far from the gate.»

«They never introduced us, but I know that he too was part of the project, right?»

«Yeah. We could call it a family tradition.»

«Why don't you introduce me to him when we'll finally have our free license? I would be happy to know him.»

Lunardi reflected for a while, then he smiled.

«I could. After all, we've been on the outs for too much time.»

Suddenly, Sagriph appeared above them, landing in front of the table they were occupying in front of a tavern.

«I finally found you, Commander! I thought you were at the tower!»

«Sagriph! Are you already here?»

«There were good winds! I've been able to return quickly!»

«Sorry, my friend! As you can see, something happened while you were far from here!»

«To be euphemistic! By the way, I have a new letter from your leader!»

«Really? Let me see!»

The Avion then took the letter from his travel back, entrusting it to the Captain.

«I fear this will be the last one for a while! The Troll's Breath is enveloping Arlea, and soon the winter will be upon them! We cannot fly on such a cold!»

«I understand! Thank you my friend! Now go have fun!»

«Sure! Thank you, Sir!»

At that point Lunardi reached a narrow and desert alley beside the tavern to read the letter, but briefly after having opened it every single trace of fun disappeared from his eyes, replaced by a pale, transfixed gaze.

A couple of minutes later, Sadee saw him run away from the alley, and she didn't need to ask it to understand that something terrible should has happened to him. She tried to run behind him, but the crowd along the street was so big that she wasn't able to reach him till the tower, when after having climbed the stairs she found him in the men's bedroom, sitting on his camp bed with his back to her.

«Flavio…»

He turned, slowly, and Sadee had a stroke when she saw his astonished eyes, completely deprived from any trace of light and turned into a couple of dark balls full of desperation.

On earth, in front of the door, there was a piece of paper with the Italian Army's logo impressed on a wax seal. She took it and read it.

* * *

 _My dear Flavio,_

 _This is the letter I would never want to write you._

 _Last week, a strong earthquake has struck Central Italy, and the region of Civitella del Lago in particular has been severely damaged, and most of the town has been wiped away._

 _Your father, Major Erasmo Lunardi, was in his home when the quake happened, and I'm sorry to say you that they've not been fast enough to save him; but you can trust me if I tell you that they did whatever they could to save his life._

 _His body has been recognized by your sister Marta, and the funerals will take place next week._

 _Giving the circumstances, you could never be able to return to Earth on time to assist, but I've already asked a temporary license to go in your place. Erasmo was like a brother for me: your grandfather entrusted his life to my father when they were young, and we grew up together since childhood._

 _By the way, you can reassure your soldiers that no one among their relatives has been touched by the earthquake._

 _When this goddam mission will be finally over, I'll promise you that you'll be left free to return to Earth to have your well-deserved moment of mourning._

 _In the meantime, I must ask you to respect your duty as soldier and leader._

 _You can read the mission's details and the last news about the project for the communication system in the other paper._

 _Once again, I'm sorry._

 _Nicola Pedersoli_

* * *

For countless seconds Sadee found herself unable to raise her eyes from the letter, managing to do it only when Fabio's sorrowful cry reached her in the darkness.

So, while entire Calibria followed to celebrate the longest party of its millenary existence, Sadee spent the rest of the night sat on that bed, in the dark, with a crying man destroyed by pain in her arms.


	12. Fiat Lux

**_Notes_**

 _Hi my friends. I'm back as fast as possible, with this new chapter which opens the second part of this story._

 _Things are moving, and soon dramatic events will happen. For now, enjoy this chapter of Faith and Science!_

 _Thanks as always to the readers and the reviewers^^_

 _See you soon!^_^_

 _ps. The title comes from latin, and it means "Let there be light"._

* * *

11

Theoretically Cassetti was not a priest, since he had never completed the seminary to obtain the religious vest.

However, given the circumstances, since his devotion and faith were pure, the Operation Columbus's main chaplain had given him the authorization to take confessions, absolve and even say a Mass for his companions.

None of them had ever known Cpt. Lunardi's father, but despite this the entire squad felt the necessity to organize a memorial for him, which took place two days later in the little square in front of the tower, even considering that mister Lunardi too had been a soldier for most of his life.

Fabio had an old photo of him and his father during a Christmas party, probably the last time they spoke to each other in joy and respect, and from it Amato had created the memorial photo which was put on an emergency bracket, surrounded by the squad's war-flag and sided by Amato and Rizzoli as guards of honor.

Not only Fabio's partners, but also Giuseppe, Tymlin and Sadee were present, and even Pharmenon, Lady Anthelea and General Aristhes with some of his guards, came in sign of respect for their powerful guests from another world.

Lunardi stayed in front of the photo, apparently immovable: however, in his heart, he felt desperate like few other times in his life, but the sight of his men regrouped around his pain in this little but significant effort to show their respect and provide him a bit of strength was enough to make him feel a pleasurable heat in his heart.

«Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear;» Cassetti prayed in front of the photo, while the squad was standing at attention on left, with their uniforms cleaned and the weapons in shoulder, «though war break out against me, even then I will be confident. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth fades away and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.»

Then he turned toward the photo and the crucifix above it, kneeling in front of them.

«O God, which have made us known the mystery of Christ crucified and risen for our salvation, we beg you to allow to our brother and comrade Erasmo, finally free by the constraints of death, to join the ranks of the Saints in the eternal Easter. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.»

«Presentat…. Arm!» Rocco ordered to the platoon, which immediately obeyed handing tribute to the Major's memory.

The most complete silence fell over the square, and at that point Wang played the "Silenzio" with his trumpet, while all the presents except for the platoon and the guards of honor saluted the photo, each of them in his own way: Lunardi and the others brought the hand to the forehead, Aristhes and his soldiers to the heart, while Pharmenon and Anthelea raised their batons.

«Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine» finally said Cassetti when the music ended «et lux perpetua luceat eum. Requiescat in pace. Amen.»

Then, Lunardi made some steps forward, reaching his soldier in front of the photo and turning toward the rest of that little crowd.

«I…» he tried to say, clearly moved «I believe I have no words to thank you enough for all this. My father used to say that the best commander is the one which can trust his soldiers in every situation, since he can say to have their complete trust and loyalty.

We… we had some problems, especially in the last period. Last time I saw him, I said that I hated him, and I never had the occasion, or maybe the humbleness, to say sorry.

Like all fathers and sons, we had some divergences. But despite this, he was my father, and for each time we had a fight I can remember one thousand pleasant memories. He taught me to be a good soldier… and a good man. And wherever he is right now, I hope he can be proud of me, and the man I've become.»

«Salute!»

Wang was about to sing the Silenzio once again and conclude the ceremony, but before he could do it an heavenly voice filled the air, chanting a beautiful song.

Sadee came out from the crowd, and in front of the astonished eyes of all the present ones she intoned a truly magnificent elven song, which almost no one proved to be able to understand, but that despite this pursued everyone to let moved tears come out from their eyes.

Lunardi, touched in the heart by such a beautiful song, put the hand to the forehead, and immediately after even all the others saluted the photo once again, remained still until Sadee finished singing, putting an end even to the ceremony.

«Your father must have been a truly special person, Captain.» said Anthelea while most of the people were leaving the square. «It's not common for an elven princess to sing such song to a human's funeral.»

«What do you mean?»

«The elves believe that if someone has spent his life in the proper way, at its death it will be allowed to be reborn as an elf. If she has sung for your father, this means that she deems him worthy of such honor.»

Lunardi remained stunned, but he preferred to not question Sadee, and before going away even Aristhes went to him.

«My sympathies, Captain.»

«Thank you, General.» he respectfully replied. «But if I may, what happened to you?»

Aristhes then put a finger over the thick bandages covering almost half of his face, but after a brief moment of puzzle he carelessly smiled.

«Things that happen. A young rookie has been a bit too much vehement during the practice.»

«Well, a good thing for you. If your rookies are so brave to give such a good tanning to their General, just imagine what they'll do to the enemy.»

«You could be right.» Aristhes laughed. «But tell me. Do you really believe that father and son could respect each other, even if they have many things to divide them?»

Lunardi reflected for a moment, then he faithfully answered.

«We can contest them, oppose them. Sometime, we reach the point to hate them. I and my father have had many occasions to have a fight, and since when I was just a boy I have always rejected his decisions if I was thinking they were wrong.» then he looked again to the photo one more time. «But I never forgot a thing: he was my father. No matter what they can say or we can think about them. It's thanks to them that we're here, and they lived long enough to see things in a way that the younger ones like us cannot even imagine. And this is a more than enough reason to respect them. Even if sometimes their decisions are clearly different from our own.»

Aristhes looked at the sky, then to the ground, touched by Fabio's words, and the Captain thought he saw a pale, strange light in his eyes.

«I suppose… I suppose you're right…»

* * *

For a very long time, the powerful city of Tarvisium, located along the northern banks of Archeus Lake, had been the Empire's frontier stronghold in the southern Plains.

Even if prince Zorzal's victorious campaign in the region had considerably moved the Empire's border north, Tarvisium was still one of the most well-defended cities in Emperor Molt's dominion, and its role as supreme guard of the most important route between the northern kingdom and the Plains was far from over.

The city's governor was none other than Emperor Molt's first-born, the Crown Prince Labio Vol Claudis. Rumors said that he had been originally designated to be his successor, and that he had been risen to become the next Emperor; unfortunately, he was the son of a concubine, and when Zorzal and Diabo's birth had changed His Majesty's plans he had been sent to the north: someone said that it was a sign of the consideration that, despite everything, Molt still had in his first-born, but it was rumored that the Emperor didn't want to see him again, now that he had two true sons to rise as his successors.

Despite his ambiguous past he was said to be extremely loyal both to his father and his acquired cousin Kanaria, and since he was in charge of one of the most important borders of the Empire it was probably true.

As illegitimate son of an old commander which had been forced to fight against the imperial prejudice to reach his current position, General Agrippa had a big respect for Labio, even considering the many important victories of the young prince when he was in command of a small elite unit during the southern wars, and when he met him in the palace's main room together with Senator Valeriano after having reached Tarvisium he saluted him in the most respectable way.

«Welcome to Tarvisium, General.» he replied in a firm but friendly way «I hope you had a safe and pleasurable journey.»

«So-so, my Prince.» Valeriano answered. «I'll never get used to such border streets: they're so full of holes, and stones… travel in a sedan in such condition is truly the worst.»

«You'll never change, right senator?» Labio said in a more familiar tone. «But it's a pleasure to have you in my city. I suppose you're tired after the long journey. Come. I ordered to prepare a little refreshment in the palace's garden.»

The senator was more than happy to accept the offer, while Agrippa on the contrary needed to be persuaded before doing the same, then the three man reached the little but very beautiful roof garden of the Governor's Palace, where an abundant breakfast was waiting for them.

«It's been a long time since we saw such deployment of forces in our city.» Labio commented looking at the two guests' following camped right under the terrace. «Since when Zorzal had moved the Empire's borders three hundred miles northern than here, Tarvisium has ceased to be the stronghold it was used to be, and even the big armies camped all around the walls are now just a memory.

Is there something I should know about the high places' maneuvers for this region? You know, we're still trying to secure the Southern Plains' new dominions.»

«I'm sorry, Governor.» said Valeriano. «But according with the orders we received form Her Highness the Vicequeen, we're strictly forbidden to speak about our mission to anyone.»

Labio looked them for a moment in an enigmatic way, but at the end he smiled while taking a bit of honey and putting it in his milk.

«No problem, my dear friends. I know when I have to care for my own business. But, just for fun, I want to try to guess: a big escort, a certain amount of gold, many provisions. I could think to a military expedition, maybe a punitive expedition against the few tribes of Warrior Bunnies which make continuous incursions in our new territories. But this wouldn't need for a senator, and such respected and skillful one, not to mention that judging from the news which comes from the Midlands the Empire at the moment has bigger problems than take care of a bunch of bitches.»

The Governor smiled mockingly, but Agrippa and the Senator on the opposite remained immovable.

«It almost seems that you're ready for war, but first you're in search for an agreement. But obviously this is impossible, since it would be against our most sacred rules, right?»

Once again the two men remained silent, but despite this Labio simply needed to look in their eyes to have a clear opinion about his hypothesis' validity.

«One time, when I was just a child sent to make the work of a man, Tarvisium has been at the brink of defeat» he said drinking the milk. «Under the lead of the mighty Sidonias, the southern City-States had formed an alliance and sent an army with the purpose to take Tarvisium and force us to become part of their League. During the battle the previous Governor has been killed while he was trying to protect the inner wall, our last line of defense, and in that exact moment I've taken his place and repelled the invasion. After that, and with His Majesty's approval, I led a punitive expedition against every single city which was part of the League, burning them one after another.» then he looked toward the steppe beyond the city's wall. «Legends said that Sidonias had been built by Emroy itself. It was the most powerful and respected city of the northern Falmart. And I've seen it burn to ashes while my men raped their women and threw their children from the walls.»

A tear seemed to appear in his eyes, moving the two men to an unusual sense of compassion.

«I've spent enough time along these boarders to understand a precious rule. Nothing is eternal, and even the strongest nation finds someone even stronger sooner or later. And judging from the news which comes from the Midlands, it seems that we finally found it. Plus this, a strange voice regarding another powerful people appeared from the other world somewhere in the north has begun to spread recently.» then he looked again his guests. «I always thought they were referred to Reich, but now…»

«As I said» replied Valeriano after a long moment of disbelief. «We cannot talk about our mission to anyone, Governor. Sorry.»

The most complete silence echoed all around, a silence full of tension and unsaid words, but at the end Labio almost laughed changing his pose in a much friendlier one.

«Well, I don't care about this. I have enough problems in taking care of this city already, and I don't have time to speculate.

By the way, feel yourself free to take everything you need from our storages. A long journey is clearly waiting for you, and since I suppose that the Plains are part of it you'll be in need for water, food and weapons.»

«We thank you greatly for your kindness, Governor.» Agrippa said

«But let me say this. I don't know who are you going to talk with, and at the moment I have no interests to know it. However, I suggest you two pay really big attention. Something big is happening in the Plains. Most of the cities have called for a general call to arms, and most of them are already strengthening their armies. One could say that they're only preparing for an eventual attack from Reich, but the truth is that there are so many sleeping giants out there that one simply cannot predict against who the spear will be thrown.»

* * *

Despite having found himself all of a sudden in the astonishing body of a Warrior Bunny, Radoni had refused with all of himself to act, pose and even appear as one of them.

Immediately after their arrival at Calibria he had thrown away Medea's dress for a classic military uniform, and in all that time he had refused to take care of the hair, the nails or any other thing one could expect by a Warrior Bunny. He had even always refused to use the female baths or showers, demanding and obtaining from Wise Pharmenon and Lady Anthelea to continue behaving and posing as a man in everything.

Unfortunately, the academy had a certain number of strict rules that couldn't be ignored, even from a special case like him, and one of these was related to the behavior and the appearance to have for the official occasions.

So, when the day of the presentation finally arrived, Giuseppe couldn't do anything but see his, or her image in the mirror with the hair combed, the face cleaned, the fur polished, and his female body enwrapped inside a formal, azure student's tunic.

«I feel like a real idiot.» he said in a very depressed and discomforted tone. «I don't know it it's worse to be returned to the days of the school exams or be forced to appear in public in such state.»

«You have no choice, it's tradition.» Sadee said giving the hair one last combing. «But if I can say it, I think you're really fine in this dress. It makes you seem like a true sage of this world.»

«This doesn't make me feel better.»

«Is not customary in Italy do dress properly for an exam or a presentation?» Medea asked

«Certainly not in such unwieldy and showy way. Not to mention the bunny ears, the fur, and the baton. Look at me, I look like some sort of magician came out from one of those goddamn MMORPG.»

In that moment Anthelea opened the door of the room.

«It's almost your turn. Are you ready?»

Giuseppe was a very prepared professor with hundreds of exams, thesis and presentations already held in the most famous academies in the world, but despite this he felt a terrible knot in his stomach when he and the two girls followed the young cleric out in the corridor after having taken a big, mysterious box covered by a red cloth.

«The other sages don't know the entire story.» Anthelea said while they were about to reach the lecture hall where the exams were taking place. «They don't even know that you come from another world. They believe you are an Empire's female researcher turned by error in a Warrior Bunny during a magical experiment.

In the exam's list you're reported as Radika.»

«Radika!? Who has decided such name!?»

«Did you prefer Giuseppa, or Giuseppina?» jokingly said Sadee. «At least it's a good name.»

«Fantastic. Now I have not only a female appearance, but even a female name.»

* * *

The magic school's lecture hall was the biggest room of the entire building, with almost one thousand seats and enough space to let other two hundred people take standing places along the perimeter.

The professors and the other sages used to take place in the first seats, since they were the sole ones which were able to emit the verdict, an unappealable judgment which was able to change the course of a mage's career forever.

The exam was incredibly simple: the candidate had to take place on the podium, from which he could be seen by the entire crowd, and explain his thesis, sometimes even requesting for the aid of one or two assistants. If the professors' judgment was favorable, the crowd was called to get up and clap; otherwise a rain of ink bombs was thrown against the poor student marking his academic career in shame and dishonor for the rest of his life.

When Giuseppe, Sadee and the others reached the small side door used by the orators to enter the room, the last cadet was about to complete his presentation, and judging from the claps his work had been quite appreciated.

The professor took a deep breath, trying to wipe the images of his first university exams out from his mind.

«It's time.» said Anthelea when the other student crossed the door with the most fierce and pleased expression.

«And now will speak Lady Radika from Lysia!» announced the crier

«All right.» Giuseppe said like a boxer before entering in the ring. «God, help me.»

Anthelea left for first, reaching her seat at the Chancellor Pharmenon's side, then Giuseppe and the two girls did the same; when he finally crossed the door, the professor made everything possible to avoid looking at the crowd, but when he ultimately climbed the podium he was forced to do it.

Saying it was a hostile crowd was almost euphemistic: not only the professors, but even the students, the common citizens and even the school's attendants had the most disgusted and repulsed glances in their eyes. On the other side of the hall, disguised as normal people, the professor managed to recognize Lunardi and some other of his companions, the only ones in whose eyes he managed to see a silent encouragement.

«Welcome in this sacred hall, Lady Radika.» said the Chancellor. «What's the argument you're here to present us?»

«The argument of my dissertation» replied Radika after a moment. «Will be about electric energy.»

The wise professors, and not only them, watched each other, trying to find in the words of someone else the significance of that strange neologism.

«The electric… what!?» asked again Pharmenon

«Electric Energy. An astonishing, incredibly great source of power like this world has never known. Something that could lead the path to a new chapter of our history.»

Someone almost laughed, but Radika ignored them: she was used to face a hostile audience, so she kept talking.

«There are many things in the world we still ignore. Electricity is one of them. But despite this, you could be surprised to find out that this energy is right here, all around us. It can take the most unthinkable forms, and its possible applications in everyday life are literally endless.»

«Only a Warrior Bunny could say such nonsenses in a place like this!» a middle-aged wizard called Jordis, one of the most influent in the school, shouted standing up from his chair.

«Maybe you forget that I'm not a Warrior Bunny. But we're not here to talk about my aspect or my race, we're here because I'm about to show you something that could totally upset your entire conception of this world.»

«Your words are interesting, Lady Radika.» said Anthelea. «But they're just words. First of all, what is this electric?»

«Electricity, Lady Anthelea.» she corrected her

«Sorry, electricity. What is exactly? And why we should consider it an "energy"?»

«Explain in detail what the electricity is would be incredibly complicated. Days, months, years of study have been necessary in my w… in my land just to have a vague idea about it. To be extremely brief but even clear, our world is full of incredibly little particles. We cannot see them, but they're right here, and they move continuously, and it's this same movement the source of this energy. And being in control of these particles, or being able to influence their course, is the instrument from which we can try to grab and use electricity for our own purpose.»

There was the most complete disbelief among the professors and the mages, and in their eyes there was the clear sign that they had absolutely no idea of what Radika was speaking.

In the attempt to engage the public Radika did a nod to Medea, which took a strange little bottle from her bag provided with a metal bag in the center of the cork and reached a random spectator, an aged woman mage in front row, which carefully looked it: it was completely empty, with the sole exception of three small insects which were flying in all directions.

«My lady.» said Radika. «Can I ask you to touch the bar of that bottle, please?»

The woman hesitated in clear worry, but at the end she timidly approached a finger to the bottle as asked; however, even before she could touch the bar, a little light appeared, connecting the finger and the bar itself, disappearing almost immediately, but provoking a more than clear pain to the woman, which put the finger in mouth to recover from the pain.

«Holy Hardy!» someone said among the ones which had been able to assist.

«Don't worry, my lady, it's nothing serious.»

Jordis got up once again.

«And this should prove what? You've probably used some sort of thunder magic.»

«This could even be true. But unfortunately, I'm not a mage.»

«But your friends yes!»

In response Medea lifted up her dress's sleeve, showing an iron bracelet which silenced the entire hall. Even Sadee did the same, proving to have the same amulet.

«I was more than sure you would have said something like that, so I took precautions. As you can see, both of my assistants are wielding binding bracelets. Their powers are completely sealed.»

«So, what's the meaning of what we have just seen?» Anthelea asked

Radika smiled: things were going better than expected.

«I suppose all of you know the bibidanes. And probably most of you are aware of the unpleasant sensation of jolt one feels when you touch them. I conducted a lot of researches about these insects, and I found out that they're literally living producers of electric energy. One alone would be never enough to create a strong enough current to jolt someone like you saw, but fortunately we can count on the conductive materials.»

«Conductive materials!?» someone asked

«I must ask you to look closely at that bottle.»

The bottle than begun to pass from hand to hand, and in this way everyone were able to note the presence of a little piece of metal inside of it, together with the insects, connected to the bar thanks to an almost invisible metal wire.

«What's that?»

«The material I was speaking about. The electric energy, as you saw, has the power to pass from place to place simply by contact. But this effect, and its power itself, can be influenced using a certain number of special materials, which I called Conductors. The metal is among them. Thanks to it, I've been able to absorb the energy produced by the bibidan, upgrade its power and send it outside of the bottle thanks to the bar. At the opposite, there are even some materials, like wood and paper, which are able to stop the energy course, preventing it from passing through them. I called them Insulators.»

«All this is quite interesting» Pharmenon commented. «But I don't understand how we could use it. Do you plan to apply it in the magic?»

«It would be a waste. Magic already makes use of the electricity thanks to the Thunder Magic, since the thunder itself is a form of electric energy. But this doesn't change the fact that this energy could have countless possible uses. At the moment, I'm directing my studies in the use of the electricity to provide a new source of light, capable to replace the candles, which have a short and poor efficiency, and the magic globes, which on the opposite are usable only by mages and wizards.»

Jordis, humiliated but still determined to fight, objected her once again.

«Look, foolish beast!» he said, and when he opened his hand a globe of light immediately appeared above it.

Countless beams appeared from the sphere, reaching every single chandelier in the room – which were obviously turned off, since the light from the windows was more than enough to light up the room – and lighting them up.

«This is energy! Fire! Magic! True energies, not like your fairytale!»

«Not bad.» replied an unimpressed Radika. «But I can do the same.»

«I would like to see it.» laughed Jordis.

At that point, Radika reveled the mysterious box under the cloth, which proved to be not less than nine bottles similar to the one she had used shortly before: they were as big as a beer mug, with the lower half of the inside covered by a metal paper, connected each other by metallic bars ending in one single sphere over the central bottle, and there was an entire swarm of bibidan inside each of them.

«I present you the Leyden Jar. With this, I can make use of the electric energy generated by the bibidan in a hundred times bigger way than the one you have seen earlier. And thanks to the energy produced inside them, in a few moment I'll produce enough light to light up this entire room.»

«With that thing?» Pharmenon said. «How?»

Radika did a nod to both of her assistants, and lifting up the drapes pending at the walls they revealed long and dark wires which reached the ceiling.

«I took the liberty to make some adjustment to this room during the night. Look by yourselves.»

Therefore all the presents looked at the ceiling, noting soon many other glass bottles connected to the black wires pending over their heads: they were much smaller than the second ones, and inside them there was some sort of carbonized thread.

«Can I ask you to close the curtains, please?» Radika demanded.

The closest one to the windows obeyed, and the entire room fell into darkness, partially lit by the chandeliers.

Sadee and Medea, following Radika's instructions, connected both the left and the right wire to a single, portable bar, which was then taken by the professor.

«These metallic wires you see are covered in an insulator material, so we'll have nothing to fear from the shocks.

And now…»

The most complete silence fell into the room, and almost in the same instant when Radika touched the jars' bar with her own the tiny bottles on the coiling filled with light, which powerfully invaded the entire hall much to all the presents' disbelief.

«Hardy's blood…» Pharmenon said

«It's… beautiful…» Anthelea commented in wonder

The most astonished, however, was Jordis himself, which fell in his seat as if he was about to die of shame

«No… this can't… be…»

The lights kept illuminating the room for almost three minutes before the circuit broke, but since Radika initially thought that they would be able to last for thirty second or a little more she was the first one to be surprised.

«This is just a first experiment.» she said while the curtains were removed. «The road to the complete understanding of this new energy will be long and difficult. But its potential cannot be negated. This is not magic, gentlemen. This is science. And together, science and magic could open our world to the most unthinkable discoveries, leading us to a bright future.»

For a very long time not a single breath was heard. Then, a very old mage got up, hesitantly clapping; one after another, others did the same, and in the blink of an eye the entire hall was collapsing under deafening claps.

«He did it.» smiled Sadee. «Good work, my boy.»


	13. Lost Souls

**_Author's Notes_**

 _Hi my friends!^_^_

 _Are you surprised!? Well, I had plenty of time to write this week, and so here I am with a new (and long) chapter._

 _It's been quite easy to write this time, since I had this chapter and its events right in my mind long before begin to create it, and as always I hope you'll appreciate it._

 _Thanks to **NewUniverse** and the misterious **Guest** for their reviews ( **MW** , tu ormai non fai testo, sei un abitudinario, e te ne sono grato^^), and to **Sakata** , **RankClone** and **AkiraUzumaky** for having favourited this story._

 _See you soon!^_^_

* * *

12

Contrarily to almost every religion followed in Falmart, Fuhrer had never been printed, sculpted or represented in any sort of art.

He had no face, no aspect: it was said that the sole one to know it's true form was his Great Priest, which were allowed to be admitted to his might for a brief instant the moment that he was chosen by the konklave to take the burden of representing his glory among the mortals.

Fuhrer's church was based on faith. No icons, no statues or prints to pray. Only pure faith in Fuhrer was the key to receive his glory, a new and revolutionary concept for Falmart's religion, but despite this, Reich's inhabitants were more than happy due to the absence of icons, because in their eyes it was the proof that their faith was the purest and greatest of the entire world.

And as Great Priest of Fuhrer and leader of his cult, Magnus used to spend much of his time in the Great Temple located right at the side of the Imperial Palace, on the other side of the parade ground.

The temple was truly magnificent, marvelous and rich enough to compete with Hardy's and Emroy's ones, built to form a particular cross provided with four hooks, which was after all the official symbol of Fuhrer and his church.

On the inside everything was covered in jewels, gold and expansive marble, collected thanks to Reich's victorious campaigns in the latest fifty years, and was continuously improved thanks to the goods provided by the work of the dwarf slaves in the southern mines and caves.

The Großehalle, or the Hall of Glory, was the most sacred place, the holy ground where it was said that Fuhrer would make his appearance one day to spread his might over the entire world. Apart from the High Priest, only the Emperor, and the members of the Triumvirate were admitted to enter in that place, and only on certain occasions.

Everyone knew that Octavia was the strongest and most faithful member of the Triumvirate, not to say of all Reich, since her loyalty to Fuhrer and his church was absolute, as much as Magnus' faith in her, so the Holy Guards which used to survey the temple's main entrance were not surprised to see her approach early in the morning, simply dressed in her formal red and white General's uniform despite the snow, the wind and the terrible cold.

«I need to see his holiness. I have his authorization.» she said, and they immediately let her pass without questions.

The woman advanced along the main nave surrounded by high columns, respectfully stopping at the Großehalle's border avoiding putting a step into that sacred soil.

«Your Holiness» she said addressing to Magnus, kneeled in front of the altar at the room's center.

«The stars were less shining this night.» he replied without turning to her. «I suppose something happened far from here.»

«I have received a message from my spy in the diplomatic delegation. The Calibrians have accepted her majesty's proposals.»

A strange tremor hit the High Priest's hands, which closed more tightly around the baton and his sacred swastika's amulet.

«Reich is a magnanimous nation, they'll say. They're diplomatic, they'll say. They know the better way to act with other people, they'll say.»

Then, he turned slowly to Octavia, directly looking into her eyes with his own.

«You know what to do.»

The woman remained silent for a moment, than she respectfully made a little curtsy.

«As you command, Your Holiness. I'll take care of this personally.» she said before going away, leaving Magnus free to return to his payers.

* * *

Dante and his men were used to face the most difficult climate conditions, but the Mountain Range was proving to be a very hard task even for an expert, well-trained Alpini division like their own.

Just a few hours after having left the centaurs, the most impressive snowstorm ever seen had overthrown tons of snow over their head, covering the cliffs, the forests and the paths under a one meter high white sheet.

The unit's vehicles were equipped to face the worst conditions, but despite this they took almost one week to cross the highest pass, reaching often the point of being forced to hand-push the jeeps out from the snow, and in this sense the Herera's presence had proven to be unexpectedly useful.

Like all centaurs she was in possession of an incredible force, despite the cute face, the long hair and the gorgeous chest, and at the point she had been even able to train all by herself the three vehicles out from a pile of snow, earning more and more respect from Dante's squad with each passing day.

Obviously not everyone was so happy of her presence, since they simply needed to look at her to remember that one of their companions had been left behind, and she was still somewhere out there together with those horse-guys.

Not to mention that for her outstanding dimensions were a not simple problem to handle with her: she was fast and agile enough to follow the vehicles untiringly for an entire day or more, but she was decisively too big to sleep in a tent or inside the jeeps, so Dante and his soldiers had no choice but to prepare a special repair for her every night, creating some sort of tepee using an insulating tarp sustained by a metal pole and the cars' winches.

To be honest she always said she didn't need for such things, saying that as a centaur and a warrior she was more than able to provide for herself, sometimes barely putting a bit of stones made hot by a fire-camp under her equine belly and covering herself under a cloth to keep the hot air inside, but Dante after all was happy to provide a bit of comfort for her, at least to prove to her and her tribe that they were fine persons.

As expected the squad found the base around the first antenna, named alpha point, already evacuated and abandoned, since it was settled almost at the top of Mount Amaranth, so they moved to the second outpost, beta point, located on the other side of the Eastern Mountains, in a forest not far from the main valley of the Terminus River, or the Rho River for the Empire.

The sun had just risen, illuminating a narrow glade covered in snow and wet grass, when the sentry standing guard along the wooden wall all around the base noted the three vehicles approaching from the road for the mountains followed by a female centaur.

«Allies on sight!» he said, and the outpost's Commander, the thirty-six years old Lieutenant Sorru, climbed the wall to see for himself

«That's incredible, they did it. Open the gates!»

A couple of other soldiers manually opened the doors, than Dante and his men entered the base, stopping the jeeps right at the antenna's base.

«Lieutenant Sorru, Sassari Brigade's Sappers Division.» Sorru saluted

«Major Dante, Falcon-9.»

«We thought the winter had stopped you. But I was forgetting that you Alpini are a bunch of tough, strong sons of bitches.»

«We do our best.»

Dante then took a moment to look all around. Apart for the antenna, the sole buildings were a couple of prefabricates, a tent and an opened gazebo as kitchen, but the most curious thing was the round, almost thirty meters long logs wall built to protect the base, and judging both from the arrows stuck in the wood and the mounds in a corner there was a more than clear meaning behind its presence.

«Quite scenic.» the Major commented

«We do what we can.» Sorru replied. «Those goddam beasts used to attack us even twice per day, but when the winter arrived they fortunately stopped. Probably they moved toward the valley in wait for the next spring.»

Dante looked at the Lieutenant's men.

«We were asked to supply you. We couldn't bring you too much, but I suppose you'll need them.»

«You're a goddam blessing, Major. This cursed winter is so strong that we're neither able to receive aerial supplies with the helicopters.»

«Can I ask a place to rest for my men in exchange? At least until tomorrow?»

«Of course. We're not the Forte Village ( _ed: a famous sardinian summer village known to be one of the most expensive in the world_ ), but always better than a jeep's seat.»

At that point Dante let his men free to take some rest, allowing them to reach the kitchen for a well-deserved lunch, but he remained behind to talk again with Sorru.

«So you've been attacked by the marauders?»

«Yes, sir. We inflicted many casualties, as you can see, but those are really stubborn, obstinate bastards. It's a real luck that we're all still alive. For now we're safe, but if the situation doesn't change and the HQ doesn't send more troops here quickly, we'll have no other option but to retreat. And with all the efforts put in building this goddamn antenna…»

«And the other settlements south of here?»

«They too have been attacked, especially Delta Point, but we don't know if it's the same gang yet. Despite the weak signal, we kept receiving reports from most of them till last week, but since then the radio is mute. I try to think that it's just a signal problem.»

«Do we have some information about the enemies' hideout?»

«Absolutely not. We knew the position of their settlement in this region, but they probably left it, and we have no idea where they're heading. We captured one of them during the last assault, a goblin or something, but he refuses to talk.»

«Let me try.» someone said behind their back

The soldiers turned, finding face to face with a blushed, almost embarrassed Herera.

«Sorry… I didn't want interrupt. But, Master Dante… maybe I could be able to make that goblin talk.»

«Think you can do it?»

«I… I don't know. But I know how to approach people like them. The goblins are arrogant and savage, but they get scared easily if they find someone stronger than them. And we centaurs are their natural enemies, since we fight every day to keep them far from our villages.»

Dante looked at Sorru.

«It's your base. What do you say?»

«Why not? Anything to make that bastard talk.»

«All right, you can try if you want.» said the Major after a brief moment

«The guy is in the first barrack.» said Sorru. «Tell the guard you have my permission, he will allow you entrance. Supposing you'll be able to enter, of course. I can order to take him out if you want.»

«Don't worry, Sir, it will not be a problem.» then Herera headed to the barracks

«Who's your horse-girl if I may?» Sorru questioned Dante when they were alone.

«It's a long story. You happen to have a radio connection with Castria?»

«Yes we have it, but it's still unstable. The antennas are not completely functional, not to mention the problems caused by the ice and the storms.»

«I need to contact HQ. Can I try?»

«Of course. Come, I take you to the radio.»

* * *

The external antenna was just a part of the complex.

The heart of the communication system was in the underground, inside the small cabin which was at the same time the antenna's basement and the radio station, where the impulses were stronger and clear.

Fortunately it was a relatively good day, the weather was good and the antenna on Mount Amaranth was working well thanks to the remote control, so the operator had been able to establish a line with Castria.

At that point, Dante asked to speak with Pedersoli, to which he made a brief but clear report about the situation faced by his squad with the centaurs, and Sorru was able to feel a bit of pain and shame in his words.

«And this is the situation, General. I'm terribly sorry. But I had to make a choice. And even if soldier Mazzega offered herself as a volunteer, the final decision has been mine, so I take complete responsibility for everything.»

«You have nothing to apologize for, Major Dante.» Pedersoli replied, barely audible cause of the noisy signal. «As you said, you had to make a choice. If you desire, I can send someone to recover the girl and take her to Castria, where she will be safer.»

«Unfortunately we can't do it, Sir. The pact says that the hostages will be returned back when we'll meet again this spring in the Imperial village of Moise, outside of the Mountain Range. This means that we're forced to take her with us.»

«I understand. In this case, I entrust her to you. Her life and soldier Mazzega's one are both in your hands now.»

«Yes' sir, thank you sir.»

«Given the situation, we cannot obviously try to recover Soldier Mazzega, since we could provoke a diplomatic incident. But I'll try to send someone behind the centaurs to be sure that they'll keep their word to keep her safe.»

«Thank you sir. This would mean a lot for me and my men. They too are worried for their companion.»

Suddenly the signal worsened, so it became necessary to cut off communications.

«General, you're fading! We'll proceed with our mission as planned!»

«All right, Major! I trust you and I wait for some good news! Pedersoli, out!»

Then the communication ceased, and further attempts to recover it proved to be useless.

«Unfortunately I fear this will be the last time you'll be able to speak with Castria before the end of your mission, Major.» Sorru said. «We in Beta Point are able to use the main antenna to partially bypass the Arlea Forest, but the other outposts are too far from here, and the signal is still not powerful enough.»

«We'll try to provide for ourselves. As always after all.»

«I'm sure you'll do it. After all, you're a Falcon Unit.»

In that moment a soldiered entered in the room as white as a sheet.

«Lieutenant, please come to the prison!»

* * *

The guard was occupied with smoking the first cigarette after a long time when he heard frightening and loud screams come from inside the barrack, but instead of trying to enter he preferred to send someone to search for the Lieutenant.

When Sorru and Dante entered in the room, they found the poor goblin stomped under Herera's clogs, covered in wounds and bruises; the girl was right above him, trying to make him talk trampling him and using at the same time the room's table as a club to threaten him.

«For the last time son of a dog! What are you and the other dishonorable beasts plotting against the people of Castria? Where are your companions? Tell me if you want to leave this place with your legs!»

«K… klikte sak may kar, keres gogon ( _S… suck my dick, you centaur whore_ ).» he replied while trying to save his jaw from being destroyed.

Obviously she was more than able to understand, and this made her even more angry, so she raised her leg to deal him an even more powerful hit.

«Herera, no!» Dante shouted.

The girl then turned astonished to him, just in time to allow Sorru to put the prisoner in safety.

«Shit.» said the Lieutenant finding face to a face with a devastated ball of meat. «Call the medic!»

«Yes' sir!» the guard shouted before leaving.

Dante too reached the goblin, trying to help Sorru to keep him alive waiting for the medic.

«Master Dante…»

«Stop right now, Herera! You can't do this!»

«But… we must make him talk…»

«We don't torture our prisoner to extort them for information. We're not the AISE.»

«A… ISE?»

«Oh, forget it. But such methods are not allowed in my squad.»

When the medic arrived Herera was ordered to leave the prison, so the girl ruefully reached the kitchen, where she met Zori busy enjoying the first good meal in almost two weeks. The sutler offered her something too, but she was too discomforted and dejected for eat.

«You should eat.» Zori said sitting at the common table. «Who knows when we'll have the opportunity to eat again such good food. Are you not tired of those disgusting rations?»

«I'm not hungry…» she replied with a very depressed voice.

Being a centaur she wasn't obviously able to sit on a bench, but unlike the other times Zori had no heart to make fun of her.

«You centaurs.» she said instead. «You're always the same. Always to think that threatening and beating someone posing as saviors of the justice is enough to obtain everything.»

«Master Dante was so angry with me. But… why?»

The cobold smiled.

«They're a strange people. They can take your life away before you know it, but at the same time they have a great respect for that same life. All lives are precious for them, even the enemies'. Torturing, beating and even executing someone is wrong in their way of thinking.»

«Why do you follow them? You cobolds don't see anything but liberty and recklessness. You have respect for nothing, you have no laws or rules. But you're here, to take orders from a human like a goblin.»

«And here I thought that standardizing the species was an elven custom.» Zori replied pretending to be offended, but assuming a gentler pose just in time to spare Herera further embarrassment. «Obviously a centaur like you has no idea of what the ones like us, forced to spend our lives much closer to the humans than you, have to face every day. These are difficult times for us demi-humans. The Reich on north, the Empire on south. And both of them don't hold us in high regards. The Italians, or the Singing People as they call them, are different. When they arrived, most of us were scared. We thought they were the final blow to our few hopes for freedom. But they stopped Reich, they protected many of us, and differently from all other humans they never saw us as monsters, or inferior beings. They see us like… equals.»

«Equals!?» Herera replied. «The humans!?»

«They drink with us, they let us use their things, and they put their lives in danger to protect us. We have a few rules to respect, of course, but despite this we're free. I know that probably they have other reasons for acting like this, but do you have an idea of what it means for someone used to be treated like an object or a monster by the humans to meet someone like them?»

Then Zori smiled even more, and despite her red fur Herera clearly noted her blushing.

«Some of us are even finding love with them. Can you believe it?»

«Love!?» Herera jumped in disbelief. «This is madness! It's not possible!»

«I thought the same. But I saw it with my own eyes. Not only they don't see us as monsters, but they think that we're beautiful.» and at that point Zori took a strange metal sculpture connected to many keys by a ring from her shorts' pocket, showing it to the centaur. «This belongs to one of them. Pietro. The moment we met, he immediately treated me like his most precious treasure, and when I told him that I was about to depart for this mission he gave me this, making me swear to come back and bring it back to him.»

«What's this?»

«They call them keyrings. These are the keys of his home on the other world. He said that he couldn't come back without being sure that I was safe. He also said that next time he came back home, he would have done it together with me.

Do you understand? He did a proposal! And I'm not the only one! Even my friend Kyatya, a cat-girl, has received a proposal from one of them!»

Almost if she was trying to preserve her external appearance of a strong-willed cobold Zori after that put her treasure away, recovering her usual attitude, but at that point Herera was already speechless.

«I… can't believe it…» said the centaur «But… what about you. Do you think you'll accept his proposal?»

«I don't know yet. He's a gentle and handsome man, but he's even a bit too much kind with me. I would like to find a stronger one. As you said, we cobolds are a fearsome race, and having a partner that literally falls before us instead of fightng is a bit… unusual.»

Herera lowered her eyes.

«I'm sorry… I didn't want to…»

«Don't worry. After all, we're more than proud of our being lawless barbarians. It's part of our soul.» then Zori turned her lips in a pleasurable smile. «We decided to trust them. And they're proving to be a very interesting and trustworthy people.»

«A trustworthy people…»

«In any case, let's forget about this for a while. Eat something and don't think too much about it.» then Zori turned to the sutler. «Ehi, boss! One big portion for my horse-friend!»

«Here it comes!»

«Wait, I'm not like you cobolds. I don't eat meat.»

«Don't worry, this is not meat.» smiled Zori. «It's their most famous meal, pasta.»

«Pasta?»

«It's made with wheat, water and salt, and they make it more flavorful using a strange red fruit and some cheese. Trust me, it's simply great.»

* * *

In the same moment, hundreds of miles further east, Chancellor Pharmenon was taking place for a breakfast in the magic school's main dining room, to which Radoni Sadee and Medea too had been invited.

«Where's Master Radoni?» the Chancellor asked seeing only Sadee and Medea

«Probably he stayed up to till late.» Medea replied. «He's preparing very hard for the challenge. He will reach us soon.»

Then the three decided to start breakfast in any case, in wait for the fourth guest.

«After what I saw during the exam, I have no doubts that you'll be able to win the challenge too.» said Pharmenon while opening his soft-boiled egg. «Master Radoni's thesis has been simply incredible, and even if I know that he comes from another world, I remained speechless when I saw that… miracle.»

«Trust me Chancellor, this is just the beginning» said Sadee «I spent more than fifty years in the other world, and I saw the most incredible things. Their knowledge of nature is outstanding, and they've been able to compensate their inability in using magic by pushing their scientific researches at the most unthinkable limits. Their thirst for new discoveries has no end, and for this their developmental progress is one hundred times faster than our own. For example, they have an instrument which they use to communicate with each other at a great distance, called telephone. When I reached their world those telephones were as big as a boot, now they're so small that one can use it in place of a common bracelet.»

«It's almost unbelievable. Even if I'm a sage and a chancellor, I find almost impossible that a civilization can reach such goals.»

«They turned the lack of magic into an advantage.» commented Medea. «Interesting.»

«By the way, this electricity thing has intrigued much of my students, and even a lot of sages. I already received many requests for more information, and even if just a week has passed since the exams took place someone has already begun to make researches in this field.

At this rate, I'll have to assign a chair to Master Radoni.»

«Unfortunately we're not authorized to share most of our knowledge with you, Chancellor.» respectfully said Sadee. «But I'm sure he'll be more than happy to discuss about the bases of Earth's science with anyone who will want to listen.»

«By the way, our main guest is quite late. Maybe we should send someone in search for him.»

* * *

Giuseppe's problem was that he used to lose the sense of time while he was occupied in doing pleasurable things, like study or prepare a thesis, and since the challenge's moment was just three weeks away, he had still many things to review.

For this, it was not unusual for him to fall asleep on the books or going to bed late, and this was the reason for which getting up early was really difficult for him.

In addition, since he was now officially a Sage he was required for him to wear his official uniform anytime he left his room, which was obviously really difficult to put due to all those garments and the three different layers of clothes, not to mention that running with that enormous soutane was almost impossible.

«Curse, I'm late!»

The professor was still trying to wear the fur jacket while running, so he wasn't able to note the person standing in the hallway right in front of him, so at the end both of them found themselves on the ground.

«Ouch!» he said, despite his now rounded butt had made the fall much less painful. «Sorry, it's my fault.»

«Are you ok?» replied a gentle and young voice.

Hearing it, Radoni had a strange sensation, and when he finally lifted the glance he found himself face to face with a young, gentle blonde mage.

Apparently they were the same age, but despite this he was wearing a student uniform, and judging from his precious pendant resembling a dragon head he came from a noble family.

When the young mage recognized her, the most embarrassed expression appeared on his face.

«M… Master Radika!? I'm sorry. I… I didn't want to…»

«Don't worry.» she said after a brief moment of disbelief. «It was my fault. I wasn't paying attention.»

Then he helped her getting up, but at a first time Radika didn't pay attention to the strange sense of warm she felt when their hands touched.

«I'm terribly sorry, Master Radika.»

«I said it's ok.» she replied

«My name is… Lyndon. Nice to meet you.»

«Your name is not from around here. Do you come from the Empire?»

«In fact. I'm from Perusia.»

«There's a fine magic school in Perusia. Why did you come so far from home?»

«I wanted to try something different. Magic in the Empire is so boring and standardized. The Plains' one instead is much more linked to the origins, so I thought this would be an interesting quest for me, since I come from a family of mages.»

«We're strangers in the same foreign land.» Radika smiled

«So it seems, Master Radika.» replied an embarrassed Lyndon

«Please, just don't call me Master. You make me feel a granny. Not to mention that I'm not you professor.»

«Gods know how much I would like to be your student in compensation. I was there during your discussion last week. You have put all of those arrogant mages to their place. And the things you did… it's been simply incredible. This electricity is an extraordinary magic.»

«There's nothing magical in electricity, Lyndon. Everything I did, everything I do every day, has nothing in common with magic. I'm not even a mage, neither I can hope to become one.»

«It's all so incredible. And it's even more incredible if one thinks that you are…» but he stopped, immediately blushing out of shame «Well…»

«A Warrior Bunny?» she said with no hesitation

«I'm sorry. I heard the stories about you. You're clearly a human, but your aspect…»

«I'm getting used to it. But if I can, you don't seem the kind of person which allow prejudices to influence your judgment.»

«You… think so?» he replied without stopping blushing

«Of course I do. Prejudice is not something that can be easily hidden, and I'm not seeing something like this in your eyes.»

«Well… I grow up with a warrior bunny as my playfellow… she was a poor girl which lived in a barrack not far from my house. I never saw her as a Warrior Bunny, just as a… friend…»

«And where is she now?»

«I… don't know. She departed with a ship when I was twelve years old. I suppose she's become a concubine, or even a whore in some brothel in Sadera.»

Lyndon remained silent for a moment, then he seemed to return to the refined and gentle student from right before.

«But as you said I try to not let myself be influenced by prejudices. And even if I know that His Grace is a human, seeing a respectful, gentle and educated warrior bunny right in front of me is the proof that all those voices about your people are just a bunch of stories.»

«And right here in front of me I see the proof that not all mages are a bunch of old geezers full of themselves.»

Lyndon laughed.

«Are you so sure of this? I could really be that kind of person in my heart.»

«No, you're not. Let's call it feminine intuition.»

Then Radika suddenly stopped talking, while her eyes took an astonished, almost shocked expression.

«Master Radika… is something wrong?»

«It's… it's nothing… sorry, but I must go. We'll talk about later.»

«Master Radika, wait.» Lyndon tried to say, but the professor was already running away toward the same direction she went moments before.

* * *

Radoni returned to his room, closing the door behind and indulging against it in fear and shock.

What had he just said?

Feminine intuition?

It hadn't been a slip of the tongue, neither something said without reflecting: he said it because she wanted to say it.

But it wasn't only that.

Despite having been forced to play a double-role cause of the secret identity the Chancellor had created for him, he had always done her best to remain faithful to his true self. But that night, when he went to the bathroom, the moment she was returning to her room he had found out having used the female one.

At a first moment he had thought it as an error, a joke due to lack of sleep: but now she was not sleepy, he was awake and aware of what she was doing.

«What's… happening… to me?»

* * *

Since the winter had already made most of the passes between Reich and the Plains useless, the sole way to return in Oder for the embassy was to reach the North Sea, where they'll have to find a ship waiting for them.

On a rainy evening, the convoy made of diplomats and soldiers was proceeding north across the Magregh Road, but the journey was made difficult cause of the mud on the trail and the storm; however, it was not possible to stop in wait for daylight or a better weather, since it was just a matter of time before the naval route between the Plains and Reich turned into an endless expanse of ice.

The ambassador was inside his covered sedan chair, occupied with trying to ignore the continuous bumps reading again and again the papers of the diplomatic alliance between Reich and Calibria.

At a certain point, the horseman driving the caravan noted a strange movement in front of him, as if someone had tried to vanish before being lighted by the torches, and immediately after an arrow hit him in the neck.

The ones right behind him saw him fall from the horse already dead and one moment later dozens of men appeared from the shadows, storming the column with spears, swords and daggers.

When the situation became clear, it was already too late. The soldiers escorting the column tried to fight back, but were killed almost immediately by unseen archers still hidden among the trees, and at that point the helpless diplomats begun to die en masse, killed with no mercy.

The ones which were carrying the ambassador's sedan chair had barely enough time to find out what was happening, and when the man carrying the front bars was killed by an archer the other one immediately left his position in an attempt to escape, but was killed in a couple of seconds by a spearman.

The ambassador, left alone, fell from his seat, covering his rich vest with mud and water, and when he managed to get up everyone around him were almost all dead.

«Why are you doing this?» he shouted to the assailants, which he was able to recognize despite the darkness. «We're the ambassadors of Her Highness Ygraine! We're your fell…» was his last word before an arrow passed across his open mouth.


	14. A shadow in the grass

_**Notes**_

 _Hi to everyone!_

 _I'm back with a new chapter. I must thank you for your support to this story, it's fantastic to have such audience, it gives me even more determination to keep going._

 _We're officially entered in the second part of the story, probably the longest among the three, but probably the chapters will be shorter from now on._

 _Well, that's all!_

 _Stay tuned, I could publish again by the end of this week!_

 _See you soon!^_^_

 _Cj Spencer_

* * *

13

When the massacre ended, the assaulters made a fast check to be sure that everyone in the convoy were dead.

«No sign of survivors, General.» one of them respectfully said when their commander appeared from the darkness.

«Very well.» Octavia replied. «Prepare everything as agreed.»

«Yes ma'am.»

Then most of the soldiers, taking advantage of the ground made soft by the rain, begun to dig a massive grave among the trees, throwing almost all of the corpses inside of it when the hole was ready, even the few of their own killed during the assault.

While assisting, Octavia noticed a young soldier standing in a corner, as pale as a sheet and clearly traumatized.

«G… General…» he said finding a pair of eyes on him

«Problems, soldier?» she asked

«No… no…»

«Don't worry. You can talk.»

«Well, I mean…» he said looking at the common grave, now almost completely filled with corpses. «I know the reason behind this… I too think that negotiating with the barbarians is against our rules, but what we've done here… we betrayed our Empress. Those were their servants. Our brothers.»

Octavia put a hand over his shoulder, almost trying to comfort him.

«We have sworn our loyalty to the Empire, not the Empress. She is a pure and kind ruler, but she has no experience of war and politics. Who can say that the Calibrians wouldn't have betrayed us, or that their intentions are so noble as they want us to believe? We cannot afford to put Reich's fate in the words of a greedy king.»

At the end the young soldier seemed to accept his General's words, even helping his companions in recovering weapons and every usable thing from the mud to put it aboard a chariot.

«Do you want me to take care of him?» asked the division's Captain while walking alongside Octavia

«It's not necessary. At the end, his loyalty will prevail on his honor. Anyway, too many have died tonight.»

A second chariot was charged with a closed leather sack full of dozens of corpses, which was taken outside the road toward a nearby clearing, where a small green dragon was waiting.

The wind dragons were smaller than the usual dragons and even the wyverns, but in return they were incredibly faster in flight, not to mention that they were extremely docile and easy to train.

«Take care of everything as planned» Octavia said climbing on it. «Then rejoin your division and wait for further orders.»

«Sieg Fuhrer.» he replied with respect.

At that point the dragon departed grabbing the sack with the forelegs, and the Captain remained to watch him for a while before returning to his men.

«Ohi, boy!» he called the young soldier. «I have a task for you. Come with me.»

* * *

The camp's medic needed almost an entire day to put all of that poor goblin's pieces together after Herera's treatment.

«So?» Dante asked the following morning when Sorru left the prison after having remained for a very long time inside of it.

«It's not as bad as we thought. A couple of broken bones and some scratches.»

«Did he say something?»

«Well, maybe the Guantanamo Style is not politically correct, but it can be really effective sometimes. I simply had to tell him that we were ready to send our aggressive friend back to his cell that he begun talking like a little bird.»

«And, so?»

«He said that his chiefs used to speak about a secret hideout on south.» then both of them reached the map placed on the HQ's table «Since he's never seen it, he doesn't know what we're speaking of. It could be a dirt hole in the mud, but even some sort of fortress» then he pointed a place along the Rho's banks, in the central heart of the Range «If he said the truth, it should be here. Somewhere in the mountains around the village of Masia.»

«Not good.» Dante commented. «The valley is part of the Empire. I would have preferred to avoid getting so close to the Rho.»

«You can take this road which runs along the flank of the valley. It's the same one we use to connect the bases with one another. If you follow it till Sigma Point and then take this path which passes across the Bola Forest, you'll reach Masia avoiding all of the most followed routes.»

Dante carefully looked at the suggested route, noting that it crossed most of the suggested sites where they were supposed to search the new mines, so it was actually a good solution to solve both problems in a single trip.

«A good solution. Very well, we'll follow that route.»

«While you're at it, please go on a search for the guys of Sigma Point. They're quite isolated cause of the winter, and we don't have news from them since last month.»

«As you wish. And the other settlements?»

«Omega Point is the southernmost settlement and the terminal point of our communications system, but it can communicate with Castria already since it's directly connected with the primal center of Omni Point in southern Arlea. When we'll be able to connect our systems too with Omega Point and Omni Point, the antennas system should be finally ready and able to grant a radio signal strong enough to cover the entirety of northern Falmart.

That's why I would like you to go to Sigma Point. If they don't complete their antenna, the system will never be completed, and if the bandits' base is located over there for real…»

«Understood. We'll search for them and we'll assure that they'll conclude their work.»

«Thank you, major. I owe you a drink when we'll be back on Earth.»

The two soldiers then saluted each other before shaking hands in mutual respect.

«Good luck, Major.»

«You too, Lieutenant.»

At that point, Dante returned to his men, regrouped already around the vehicles and ready to depart.

Before boarding the vehicle, the Major crossed Herera's path, which lowered her eyes in shame the moment she saw him.

«I… I'm sorry, Master Dante. I thought… well… I didn't know… Zori told me…»

«Well done.» he ultimately said. «Let's go.»

They were just four words, but for the first time since she was forced to join that mysterious group of humans the girl felt a bit of happiness and a sense of peace.

«Yes, master.» she said with a smile.

* * *

«What news from the other side?» minister Scoleri asked minister Giovanardi when they met along Palazzo Chigi's main aisle, both directed to Rigamonti's office for the weekly meeting about the mission.

«The worst ones.» Anselmo answered. «We're completely blocked cause of the winter. At the moment Castria is isolated from the rest of the world, and the climate conditions are so bad that we needed to stop the airport's construction.»

«Any good news from Calibria?»

«Professor Radoni has passed the exam, so there will be no other problems. He and Lady Sadee will face the challenge by the end of the month, then their true mission will finally be able to begin.»

«I hope it's worth it. I heard about what happened to the professor.»

«We received a formal letter of excuses from the Warrior Bunnies, together with their promise to help us. A couple of them have already been enrolled in the FASI. Their skills in assassination and scouting will be really useful for the squad.

And you? What news from our so-called friends in Brussels?»

«The stadium incident has been successfully solved. All proof has been deleted, and the witnesses silenced with the proper instruments. They stopped make questions.»

«That bomb was ready to explode in our hands. But I was forgiving that you're the best, Ivana.» smiled the young man

They were about to knock to the Prime Minister's office, when a loud shout came from the other side before they could do it, followed by a sound of smashed porcelains.

«Porca troia!»

Then they immediately opened, finding Rigamonti hunched over his desk, with his precious lamp in pieces on the ground.

«What's happening, Sergio?» Ivana asked

He didn't answer, but together with the lamp there was also a crumpled sheet to the parquet. Ivana took it: it was a message from the secret service's agents on mission in Japan, so she read it, and soon her face too turned into a mask of astonishment and disbelief.

«What's the problem?» Anselmo asked

«The Japanese have made contact with the Imperial Family.»

«What!?»

«With one of the heirs, according to our spies' information. Princess Pina. The Government is planning to take her to Tokyo for a secret meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.»

«There is no more information?»

«This is all. They're obviously trying to keep all this for themselves. We've been lucky to have known about this.»

«May you burn in Hell, Motoi.» Rigamonti grumbled as if he was at the point to throw even his enormous desk into the air.

«But this makes no sense.» tried to object Giovanardi «A negotiation is against the Empire's code of honor. We received reports that they're trying to rebuild their army to prosecute the war.»

«This young princess has probably a little more brain than the rest of her family.» Scoleri commented

«The Japanese are about to conquer the greatest achievement of the entire human history, and we're still stuck in those goddamn mountains!»

«I suppose this is the bad side of having our gate located outside the Empire. We can act in secret, but they need to make just a few miles to reach the capital.»

At that point Rigamonti turned to them red with anger.

«The Empire is the key. The city-states and the tribes are just small fishes. If we don't make contact with them as fast as possible, all this will have been completely useless.»

«So, what should we do now, Prime Minister?»

«We'll implement the funds for the mission! For now we're stuck cause of the winter, but we can still prepare ourselves for the moment when we'll be able to move once again. I want the airport and the communications system working for the next spring.»

«But, sir…» Ivana objected. «We're already spending more than we're able to hide. The other parties are supporting us for now, but we can't be sure they'll keep doing it.»

«Not to mention the European Laws.» said again Giovanardi. «If someone would decide to check our expenses we would be in serious trouble.»

«We're running the next century's marathon. The one who takes the Empire will have the global upper hand for the next one-hundred years. I swore to make our country the ruler of the Special Region, and God Almighty I'll do it, no matter the risks!»

In that moment one of Scoleri's attendants entered the office and gave a paper to his chief.

«Minister, a report from our embassy in Washington.» he said before leave the three alone once again.

Ivana read it, and her expression was more than eloquent to make Rigamonti and Giovanardi understand that the news from Japan was just the beginning.

«Bad news never walk alone.» the woman commented.

«What's now?» the Prime Minister asked as if he didn't want to know the answer

«The Japanese are not very good at keeping their secrets. Our agents in America have detected a strange increase in contacts between White House and the CIA's division in Japan. Even the Russians and the Chinese have called their agents in Tokyo, warning them to prepare to move. We don't know the reason of this crisis, but if we've been able to detect Motoi's movements I would not be surprised if even the other ones have managed to do it.»

«They'll clearly try to sabotage the encounter.» Giovanardi said. «Or more probably their goal is to kidnap this princess to obtain their own connection to the Empire's political power. Maybe this could turn into an unexpected advantage for us.»

The Prime Minister remained silent for a couple of seconds, then he reached to his desk again and took the phone.

«Call me the Minister Motoi.» he said, leaving his two ministers completely wordless. «He should be in Mexico City for a state visit.»

The call was immediately made, and after a while the St Regis Hotel's telephone rang in the heart of the night.

«I'm the Italian Prime Minister. I need to talk with Minister Motoi immediately… I don't care if he's still sleeping. Wake him up.»

«But… Prime Minister…» Giovanardi murmured «Why…»

«It's already difficult enough in a two-horse race, I have no need for other competitors.»

Finally, Motoi appeared on the other side of the line.

«Prime Minister. I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour, but our agents report that a strange exchange of messages is in course right now between many governments and their embassies in Tokyo. This is just a hypothesis, but we suspect they're planning something regarding your mission in the Special Region. I thought you had the right to know it… Yes, of course… It's ok my friend, you owe me nothing… But I must suggest you to improve your security net around the portal and all involved personnel as fast as you can. Obviously this is confidential information. We don't want to damage our relations with the said countries. I hope our future relations on the opposite will always be so transparent and respectful. Yes… it's always a pleasure. Thank you… good night, Prime Minister.»

At that point the call ended, and Rigamonti came back to look at his two ministers.

«We gained a bit of time. But it will not last for long. We need to find our own way to the Imperial Family, and we must do it now.

What news from our research division?»

Ivana at that point took three copies of the same dossier from her briefcase and gave two of them to her colleagues.

«We put the best of our scholars at work.» she said while the three sat around the desk. «In search of any trace that could testify the gate's existence in the ancient past. Since the Empire presents a clear Roman structure we focused our research in that period.»

«And?»

«We found something interesting. It's part of a chronicle written by a Greek libertus named Dimarchio, a very little-known historian lived in the third century BC in Narni. He speaks of a village, somewhere in the Appennines, whose inhabitants said to have a special connection with the realm of the Gods. There is no geographic information that can help us find out where this village exactly was, but under the circumstances we can assume that he was probably referring to the gate.»

«And that's all?» Rigamonti asked clearly disappointed. «The Secret Service is studying the gate for more than thirty years, and this is all you can give me?!»

«Unfortunately Dimarchio's works never left his hometown, and much of them have been destroyed during Hannibal's campaign in the Second Punic War. But he speaks of a member of the Senate and a little army sent in the mountains to investigate about this mysterious village.

We tried to make further researches in the monasteries' archives, but as of now we've not been able to find further proof.»

«Then the mission in Calibria is more than vital. The elf-girl says that the Imperial Family values the blood lineage more than everything else. If we demonstrate that its origins not only come from this world, but even from our own country, we'll have reached the heart of the Empire. And at that point, there will not be any childish princess able to prevent us from wrestling the control of the Special Region from the Japanese' hands.»

* * *

As soldiers, Lunardi and his men were paid for their work, but if the euros were accepted by anyone inside Castria, even the local merchants and owners of taverns, on the outside was necessary to adopt other kinds of money.

For this reason, all of the members of the Italian Army assigned to the Special Region could ask and obtain to have part of their salary in Euros and the remaining part in Soruda and Denari, the Empire's most used coins, to use it if necessary outside the Italian Administrated Region.

As usual, before departing, the members of Falcon-1 had received the equivalent in Soruda and Denari of three months' salary, obviously adapted to the coins' value in the Special Region, with the option to convert them in euro after their return to Castria; each of them was able to use those money as he wanted, but of course in such payment were included the costs for food and other primary needs not covered by the mission's funds.

Usually a prostitute's rate was of one Soruda or ten Denari, with few exceptions; but Parna was a Warrior Bunny, which together with the Avions were notoriously the most talented ones in their work, so their rate was a bit more expensive.

But this was not a problem for Rocco and the other ones which had secretly accepted the girl's offer, since according to the Sergeant, which had been the first to visit her house, she was a true Sex Goddess, capable to steal a man's spirit and leave him breathless and completely exhausted in barely a couple of hours.

To not alarm the companions or being forced to give explanations, Sergeant Rocco had forced all of the other ones involved in that situation to remain silent with the other ones, not to mention the condoms soldier Brugnoni had been smart enough to take with him were counted.

Mama's boy Tassoni's turn was on Monday afternoon, but despite having accepted to keep the secret he always refused to make use of his three hours of "license", finding continuous excuses to justify: a change of guarding turns, a headache, and countless other physical problems.

He and Brugnoni had spent a long time in the same station in Turin before being assigned to Operation Columbus, and Gianfranco was probably the sole true friend that Tassoni had in the Special Region, and right for this at the end Brugnoni decided that it was enough.

«Why don't you accept the fact that Silvana will not come back?» he said putting a condom in his hand after lunch when he tried to offer himself for cleaning. «He left you, and that's all! The more you'll think about it, the more you'll have to wait before being free again. So take this, go out there and prove me you're still a man, or I swear I'll talk of your porcelain dolls collection to everyone!»

«What!? When did you…»

«Now!»

Then, Paolo headed toward the baker shop on Prince Aulas Road as a condemned man headed to the gallows, and when he finally reached the shop he stayed for a long time at the base of the outside stairs which reached the little house at the first floor.

He went up timidly, one step a time, then he subtly knocked praying to not be heard, and when no one opened he thought to be safe.

«It seems no one's here.» he almost smiled.

Unfortunately, right when he was at the point of leaving, someone appeared on the stairs cutting away the escape route.

«Oh, welcome.» Parna said climbing the stairs with a paper sack full of vegetables in hand. «Sorry, I went out for some shopping. This is the best moment for visit the market, since the sun is high and most of the people prefer to stay indoors. And since you never came in the last weeks, I thought…»

«I… I understand.» he stammered while sweating like never before. «So… I suppose you're occupied in putting away the groceries, then I think I should…»

But before he could descend half of the stairs, he found a naked leg leaning against the railing to stop him.

«Don't be fool, my friend. This is your first time, so you need a first-class work. Come.»

At the end Paolo had no choice but to follow the girl and entered her house.

There was a single, but still spacious room, with a table, a bed, a stove for cooking, a chest and few other things, and the entire room was lit by three windows.

The moment they entered, Parna ran to remove the boiling pot from the stove, and when she opened the lid a pleasurable smell of soup filled the air.

«Just in time. I needed carrots and aigmang, that's the reason for which I left.» then she turned to his young client, still standing in front of the entrance. «I'll be with you in a moment, just give me a minute to put those things in the pantry.»

Then Parna disappeared behind the sole other door, and Tassoni took a moment to look around.

He had never met with a prostitute in his life, and he had always imagined the house of one of them as a dirty, vulgar place, but that little studio flat seemed everything except that a whore's nest. Hanging on the wall there were also some paintings and flowers frameworks, the dust was almost absent, and the bed was clean and perfumed.

«It's… a fine house…» he said

«I must thank the baker.» Parna replied from the other room. «There are not many humans in this city willing to rent such a house to someone like me. She offered me this place to stay despite the work I do, and in exchange I help her to care for the shop. I pay attention to not being seen obviously, I work at the oven and other such things; not to mention the work I usually do, it's not a good thing to have a Warrior Bunny as assistant in this side of the city.»

«It's… sad. Why is everyone so unrighteous with your species? You are so kind, so… respectable.»

«It's not always been like this. There's been a time when we Warrior Bunnies used to fight each other in an endless war, and even if our civilization used to be something more of blood and war everyone still sees us as a violent and barbaric race. On the opposite, I suppose you know the way we use to reproduce. The urge to mate with other races in order to have our babies has forced us to become really skillful in sexual affairs, and that's the reason behind all the voices about us being a bunch of horny beast-girls in heat.»

«It's… sad…»

«There's no need to be sad. We don't care of what people say about us. When our kingdom has been wiped away I've been lost for a while, but at the end I thought that after all there was nothing strange in using my skills for eat. And even if I was scared at the beginning, with time I learned that being a whore is not so different from being a warrior: you must simply do your job while avoiding being too much involved. First it was just kill, now is just sex.»

Then, the door opened, and when Tassoni turned the wooden fork he was looking fell to the ground.

Even with her modest human dress one was more than able to note Parna's gorgeous body, but now that she was wearing barely the slips and a skimpy cotton band to cover her breast that same body was right in front of him, absolutely marvelous.

«After all, it's true» she said while provokingly walking toward him. «We're masters of love and sex. From the stinky goblins to the horny werewolves, there's no race that we're not able to send in ecstasy, even if for barely a brief moment.»

Before knowing it, Paolo was sat on the bed, with the most beautiful girl he had ever seen right over his knees, smiling like a cat ready to eat a delicious little mouse.

«Are you nervous?» she hissed in his ear

«Well… uhm…» he hesitantly tried to reply

«Whatever is annoying you, trust me: you'll have nothing apart this in mind when I'll have finished with you.»

Feeling her lips, for a single instant Tassoni thought he was kissing a goddess, but after just a couple of seconds a terrible sensation exploded in his chest, and a wave of fear pursued him to free from the embrace where she was trying to entrap him.

«I… I can't…» he said trembling in fear.

«What!?» she said clearly surprised

«I can't do it, sorry. I knew I shouldn't have to come. Sorry if I made you waste your time, I pay you in any case.» and then he literally escaped even without recovering the belt she had already removed from his pants.


	15. Drums of War

**_Notes_**

 _Hi to everyone!^^_

 _Christmas is coming, and so I suppose you can consider this chapter my personal gift for you!^^_

 _Things are going in the worst direction, and now there's nothing that can reverse the course of history. It's almost time for war._

 _Well, I don' think there's much more I can say, apart for thank you once again for reading and reviewing my story._

 _I made count that the story will be between 30 and 35 chapters long, so be prepared!^^_

 _See you soon!^_^_

 _Cj Spencer_

* * *

14

At the end it had been necessary to wait more than a month so that Major Lunardi's funeral could be held.

Marta, Fabio's younger sister, was a member of the Doctors Without Borders, and immediately after the earthquake she had been forced to leave since there was need for help in Iraq, so Pedersoli had opted to wait till her return, if nothing else other than to allow at least a member of the Lunardi family to be present at the Major's funeral; the rite was taking place in Sant'Agostino's church in Narni, since both the little church and the graveyard in Major's hometown had been severely damaged during the earthquake and almost two months later were still closed.

Though it was only the beginning of December and a sunny morning it was really cold, and during night some snow had fallen covering the church and the small plaza with a thin white haze.

As promised, Pedersoli was taking part at the ceremony for the Italian Army, but before entering Nicola met someone he didn't expect.

«Minister Scoleri.» he said noting to her while climbing the church's stairs.

«General.» she gently saluted him

«I'm surprised to find you here. Did you know Major Lunardi?»

«I met him years ago. I was just a newbie which was trying to find her way in our political world, while he instead was one of the most listened advisors of the former Chief of Staff. He helped me a lot in finding my way, I owed this to him.»

«I understand…»

They both took a seat in the front rows, and during the ceremony Nicola often turned his eyes toward the Major's photo in front of the coffin.

«He was a good man.» he murmured

«I heard he was part of the project too.»

«Only at the beginning. He was too honest to be involved in such unclear and secret affair. But he served his Country the best he could on many occasions, exactly like his son.»

«You have a high consideration of Captain Lunardi, it seems.»

«I saw him growing up. He's a fine soldier and a smart boy. His help has been very precious to pursue lady Sadee to share her knowledge with us, not to mention that the princess and his soldiers have complete faith in him.»

«His dossier however tells a different story. If it hadn't been for you and your recommendation, he would never be reinstated in the Army.»

«He's the son of his father, after all.» Pedersoli said with a sad smile. «He said that we had to be prepared, and that the world deserved to be informed about the risk. When I saw what the Empire had done in Tokyo when their gate appeared, for a brief moment I felt bad for having refused to listen him, pursuing him to act like that.»

«Japan was not ready for something like this. But we were.»

«Can you say it for sure? The truth is that we've been lucky. No one expected that two gates could appear at the same time in the same world. Even Sadee says that it should be impossible.»

«But the chronicles of the Special Region clearly speak of two gates.»

«Not exactly. The sole gate named in the official chronicles is Alnus's one. Castria's Gate is essentially a legend, and there's no trace about its existence in ancient times.»

«And yet it appeared in our world during the war, and maybe on many other occasions, according to the theory that our researchers are developing.»

«I suppose we'll have more information when we'll be able to read the manuscripts in Calibria's secret library.»

«Regarding this, can you tell me something else, apart from what you wrote in your last report?»

«Nothing at all. All of our scouts have been forced to return to Castria due to the winter, and all communications are blocked.»

«And what about Reich?»

«Their routes for the plains are blocked exactly like ours, so there should be no problems. As fast as possible I'll restore our watch posts along the main roads, but for now we can only pray that nothing happens.»

* * *

When Magnus removed the cloth from the barrow that he had obtained to be brought till inside the throne room, the entire court, starting from Ygraine, remained shocked.

«This is what happens in treating with the barbarians.» the High Priest said looking at the pile of devastated corpses thrown over the barrow.

The Empress lowered her eyes to spare herself from seeing her devoted servants in such state, and especially ambassador Jurgen, who had been her tutor and friend in childhood.

«But we cannot blame our Holy Empress for what happened.» said again Magnus. «She has proven all of her endless benevolence trying to spare a hopeless war to those monsters, and this is the way the Calibrian rats have repaid her.

Such crime cannot be unpunished. Not only for the sake of our people, but especially to make them pay for this vile act, we must make the Calibrians know our blades.»

«Do we have any proof that they're the ones who have done it for true?» Ygraine asked as if she was in search of an explanation that she was the first one to know being absent.

«No one knew about this mission apart from us and King Deiphobos. The diplomats were traveling undercover, and their escort was too well prepared to be slaughtered like this by the common robbers of the Plains. Plus this, on their bodies we found clear signs of Calibrian weapons. I too would be happy to have another explanation, my Empress, but the proofs tell one sole truth.»

The Empress tightened her grip on her scepter.

«What's the state of our army?»

«The enlistment has gone even better than expected, my Empress.» Octavia answered. «And our new army has nothing less compared to the previous one. We still can't compete with the Singing People, but the Calibrians will be no match against us.»

«I suppose that we have no other options at this point. But the winter has already blocked all the routes to the south, so I fear that we'll have to wait till the next spring to go to war.»

«With all respect, it will not be necessary, my Godly Empress.» the Great Priest answered

«What!?» Ygraine replied in astonishment

«Obviously we were all praying that our diplomatic mission was able to spare us this war, but in the meantime we needed to be prepared even for the worst. For this, with the Triumvirate's authorization, we secretly moved most of our troops in the northern Plains by sea weeks ago, before the ice blocked the routes. General Donzark is already on site, and at Her Highness' command General Octavia will reach him to launch all of your power against the crazy ones which refused your benevolence.»

At that point the disbelief in Ygraine's eyes turned in something darker, and the court was able to see rage in the glance of their empress for the first time in her life.

«You moved my troops in a foreign country without MY authorization?» she said in anger

«I beg for your mercy, my Empress.» Magnus kneeled in front of her «Please, be merciful. I acted for the sake of Reich, and being forced to act in secret has been the worst thing I could do against your divine person.»

The court remained speechless, since that was the first time that a Grand Priest of Fuhrer kneeled in front of an Emperor, and after a brief moment Octavia joined him.

«I too must beg for your mercy, Your Grace. I acted according to His Holiness' orders, but I supported him without trying to warn you. I feared that you might decide to wait till the mission's return before making such a decision, and in such case there would have been no time to mobilize our troops before next spring. I'm ready to give you my role as a General and even my life if you desire, but I beg you with all of my heart to be merciful with His Holiness.»

An even more astonished Ygraine looked at her court, noting in the eyes of everyone, from the nobles to the servants, the same begging for mercy, together with a clear sense of respect for both their Priest and their most expert and respected General.

She was ready to call for the guards, ordering them to arrest both of the traitors, but in the end she took a deep breath and loosened the grip around the scepter.

«Since you acted for the sake of our nation, for this time you have my forgiveness. But try to act behind my back once again, and the respect you have among the members of this court will not be enough to save you. Am I clear?»

«We thank you deeply for your benevolence, Your Holy Highness.» Magnus said lowering his head even more together with Octavia.

«We're not worthy of your forgiveness, my Empress.» said the General. «And to prove you my regret, I swear to never return to your presence until Calibria will be conquered. Those barbarians will pay for having refused your kind offer for peace.»

The empress at that point got up from her throne, and at her command a servant put in her hands one of the Empire's flags, provided with a golden string and attached to a silver baton: the red was much more intense compared to the common flag, and contrarily to the common way to represent it, the hooked cross in the center was painted inside of a white circle.

«Come, General Octavia Von Lauschditz.»

Octavia advanced, kneeling once again in front of Ygraine.

«I entrust you the war banner of our Empire.» she hesitantly said putting the flag in her hands «May you lead Reich to one more victory, in wait for the day when our dominion will embrace the entire world.»

«I deeply thank you for this honor, my Empress. And I swear to return you this glorious banner covered in blood. The enemy's one, or my own.»

The orchestra of drums and trumpets begun to play, and the entire court turned into one sole powerful choir to sing the Empire's anthem, the same one written years before by the first Emperor, a joyful and pleasurable march inside which however there was the heart of Reich's thought.

 _Ruhm und Ehre unserer Gründer_

 _Apostel des Führer_

 _kommen aus der ferne_

 _von Gott gesegnet_

 _Wir erobern die Welt_

 _denn dies ist dein Wille!_

 _Ewiger Ruhm fur Reich!_

 _Ewiger Ruhm fur Reich!_

* * *

 _Eternal glory to our founder_

 _The Apostle of Fuhrer_

 _Came from a far land_

 _Blessed by God_

 _We'll conquer the entire World_

 _Because this is your will!_

 _Eternal Glory to Reich!_

 _Eternal Glory to Reich!_

* * *

The final day had finally come.

Within twenty-four hours Sadee and Radoni will have taken part in the challenge to obtain free access to the deepest secrets hidden in the magic school's library in the city's underground.

They didn't know their upcoming opponents yet, but Pharmenon had been more than clear when he said that the school had chosen the best among the best, so even if she had faith in her abilities and knowledge, Sadee was well aware that it will be a very difficult task for both of them.

«I'm quite worried.» she said while taking a place at one of the library's desks for one last review together with Medea. «They chose the following subjects for the challenge: History, Geography and Natural Sciences. I have no problems with the Natural Sciences, and Giuseppe has no rivals in Geography, but we both lack in History, and especially in non-imperial history.»

«I've never seen such challenges in my life. What are the rules exactly?»

«There are two teams, each of them made of two sages. The Chancellor, which is even the referee of the challenge, names the theme of the duel, then both teams choose their member which takes part in that particular duel. The chancellor poses a question per time to each team, and the first one which misses or fails to answer for two times loses the duel. The team that wins two duels wins the challenge.»

«So it's a one versus one battle?»

«Not exactly. For a single time, a duelist can ask his partner to answer in his place if he doesn't know the answer. Usually this possibility is always present, but since Giuseppe is… special, they feared he could use it to avoid answering and let me fight in his place.»

«By the way, where is Master Radoni? I thought we would have found him already here for this last review.»

«Probably he's in his room. He always prefers to study on his own in the last days before an exam. But don't worry, tomorrow you'll be completely speechless seeing how many things he learned about this world in barely five years.»

«You seem to trust him greatly, Lady Sadee.»

«When I remained trapped on Earth, the Italians asked me to teach them everything I knew about our world, and since there was the possibility that the gate might appear once again they wanted I did the same even with a certain numbers of their students, in anticipation for the time when the knowledge would have been useful. I spent tens of years travelling from college to college in search of the best students to instruct, and even if he's been one of the last he's probably even the best among them. That's the reason for which I suggested him for this mission.»

«By the way, why are the Italians so interested in reading the books in the secret library?»

Sadee then carefully looked around her to be sure that no one among the sages and the students in the room was listening, then he said the girl to come closer.

«I know you'll have plenty of things to do for finding out a way to reverse Giuseppe's transformation, but officially you'll be our assistant in case we'll win the challenge and we'll have to go down there for our research, so I suppose you deserve to know the entire story. However, I told you nothing, right?»

«Of course, Lady Sadee. You can count on me.»

«Do you remember the things I said you about the Italians' ancestors?»

«Regarding the people from which they say to descend?»

«The country named Italy is actually what remains of the greatest civilization ever existed in their world. Even before reaching this world, they started to believe that a certain number of members of this ancient populations might have crossed the gate centuries ago, and they could be the ones that founded the Empire.»

«What!? Is it true?»

«It's what they want to know. Obviously we're speaking of an incredibly ancient period, even before the supposed birth of the Empire, and since you're a magician I suppose you already know that there are really few documents old enough to prove this theory.»

«I understand. You hope to find something in the secret library and in its ancient scripts.»

«That's the reason for which we're here.»

«But what's the meaning of this? Why are the Italians so interested in the proofs of a common ancestor with the Empire?»

«You know the Empire's way of think. They have great respect for all of those civilizations they see as similar to their own. And the Italians have all interests in forging a friendly relationship with the most powerful nation of this world.»

«Do they seek an alliance!? With the Empire!?»

«Don't shout, for the Goddess' sake.»

«Sorry. But… the Empire and the free city-states of the plains are mortal enemies. If the Calibrians should find out what you're aiming for…»

«The Italians have no enemies in this world apart from Reich. Their sole purpose is to establish peaceful relations with as many populations, nations and tribes as possible. And the Empire is not an exception. They're not interested in our wars, and the sole fact that species which used to fight each other for the smallest things now peacefully cooperate in Castria and the other regions under Italian control proves it.»

Then Sadee looked toward the walls outside the window in a very nostalgic way.

«Who knows? Maybe this could be an opportunity to put an end to all these stupid wars in our world.»

«Lady Sadee.»

But after that brief moment of discomfort the elven princess returned to be the usual, friendly Sadee.

«But we're not here to speculate. For now, let's think about the important things.»

However, before they could start studying, a young female student reached them worried and frightened.

«Lady Sadee, Lady Medea, please come with me.»

«What's happening?»

«Lady Radika… she is…» she said, and looking her into the eyes both the girls had a really bad sensation.

* * *

The moment they reached professor Radoni's room, both Sadee and Medea heard a creepy and strong noise coming from behind the door.

«Giuseppe, what's happening?» Sadee asked

No one answered, then they opened with no hesitation, and what they found when they did it was the most complete devastation.

The heavy desk had been thrown into the air, and Radoni, sat on the bed with his tablet held tight in the trembling hands, had the most depressed, not to say destroyed expression Sadee and Medea had ever seen.

«Giuseppe…» Sadee murmured

«I…» he cried. «I don't know it…»

«…what…?»

«I don't know how to use it.»

«You what!?» said a speechless princess.

That was impossible. Giuseppe wasn't certainly a techno nerd, but he was more than able to use a common tablet as much as any other electronic device he needed to do his job as a researcher.

«What does it mean that you don't know?»

«I know what this is.» Radika said, unable to stop tears. «I know I have used it countless times already. But… now… I can't remember how to use it. I don't remember neither its name.»

The two girls looked each other, but Sadee was able to see a bit of shame in Medea's eyes.

«I knew it that something was happening inside me.»

«What!? Do you mean… that this is not the first time?»

«First, I began to forget the things' names just for brief moments. Then my way of talking, acting and even thinking have started to change, but I was still able to remember who and what I was. But now… no matter how I try, I can't remember what this… thing truly is. I know I should, but I can't!»

Then, he violently threw it to the ground, destroying it, and almost at the same moment she launched against the wall on the other side of the room his paper knife, beheading a little lizard with deadly accuracy.

Once again, Sadee and Medea remained speechless.

«Why?» Radika said turning again to them. «Why can I do such things on the opposite hand? What the hell is happening to me?»

Sadee turned again to Medea, which uselessly tried to avoid her questioning eyes.

«I think you owe us an explanation.»

«I… I fear this could be fault of the… mind reload.»

«Mind reload!? Please, tell me is not what I fear.»

«A warrior-bunny's body was not the sole thing we needed for giving birth to a pureblood. There was need of a true sage, someone able to be the body and spirit of our own race, and become an example for our people.

For this, my auntie's spell had the ability to alter the memories of the chosen one, filling his mind with our knowledge at the point that even his physical abilities adapt to his new body. However, this even implies that part of the old ones gradually disappear.»

Both Radika and Sadee speechlessly looked at her.

«What!?» shouted the professor.

«And why the hell were you waiting to tell it, you goddamn…» said Sadee, stopping just in time to not putting hands around her neck.

«I… I didn't know that this effect of the potion was supposed to happen» she tried to justify. «The auntie's notes said that she's never been able to achieve this goal. Probably she succeeded it in a second moment, but she forgot to report it.»

«Now everything makes sense.» Radika said looking at her trembling hands. «Those new memories… the old ones which are vanishing…»

«I… I promise I'll find a solution, Master Radoni.»

At that point, Giuseppe lost her mind.

«Find a solution!? You're the sole responsible for all this!» she said full of rage. «You're not even sure that you'll be able to reverse the transformation! You call yourself a shaman, but you're just a brat who thought to be a mage, and now I'll pay the consequences of your stupidity!»

«Don't… don't say this, I beg you. I can still solve all this. When we left to make our research…»

«Research!? What research! I'm not even sure to remember everything I studied! How can I sustain the challenge if your fucking spell is wiping away all of my knowledge! You're just a goddamns shlmishnat!»

The three silenced, and when even Radoni understood having used an ancient warrior-bunny's word he had never heard nor studied, his rage turned in despair.

«Ten years of work thrown away with a sip of tea.» he cried falling to his knees over the carpet. «Leave me… leave me alone…»

Sadee wanted to say something, at least to try to help her pupil in the face of that moment, but the truth was she too was shocked by the situation, not to mention what Medea was proving.

Then, they left, leaving Radika alone to face his nightmares.


	16. Queen of Hearts

**_Author's Notes_**

 _Hi my friend!^^_

 _I know, I promised you to publish this new chapter during holidays, bus as you'll see it's an unusual long chapter, not to mention that it's been incredibly painful and difficoult to write it. Plus this, a couple of friends visited me during tha same holidays, and FFXV is a real drug (^^') so the chapter's relase has been postponed till this time._

 _By the way, I hope you'll enjoy it: the war is close, and this will probably be the last "peaceful" chapter for a long time^^_

 _See you soon!^_^_

* * *

15

After the ceremony Pedersoli proposed to Ivana to share a coffee, then both of them reached a small coffee house not far from the graveyard, a too small and unfrequented place because someone was able to recognize them.

«By the way.» said the General while pouring some milk in his espresso. «I heard some interesting news about our new special division. Now I explain all those transfer permissions.»

«I admit it, I was quite skeptical at first.» Ivana replied. «But after having seen the results, I'm starting to believe that maybe Rigamonti was right when he accepted to take such risks. The FASI is surpassing even the most optimistic expectations.»

Then the Minister handed him her tablet, and Pedersoli gave a brief look to the reports stored in the device, remaining pleasantly surprised.

«Not bad. Arrested terrorists, prevented attacks, successful anti-mafia operations…»

«We achieved bigger results in three months with the FASI than in the last three years with the best of our special forces.

The Warrior Bunnies and the centaurs that you have let pass last week will be really useful in improving even more the squad's abilities, and if everything goes according to plans we'll be ready to fully operate in foreign territories by the half of next year.»

The woman almost laughed, hand-covering her ruby red colored lips and closing the eyes.

«Obviously no one here believes that Rigamonti is doing all this just for the sake of our Country, but after all no one can deny all of the good things that the Operation Columbus is providing to Italy, and that's the reason for which for the first time in our history the entire political world is united under a sole purpose.»

«All the opposite of Japan, judging from what I heard.»

«Motoi is facing a really serious crisis, and no one doubts that his government will not live much longer. The media and most of his own party are against him, and the news about that village's destruction could be the coup de grace for his role of Prime Minister.»

«Speaking of this, what about the reinforcements I requested? It could be a real problem if that Flame Dragon should decide to move north.»

«We're trying to speed up the formalities. You'll have it by the end of the year. Not to mention that if Motoi will fall, we could be forced to rethink our entire operation.»

«Are the foremen in Rome so sure that this will happen soon?»

«It's a concrete possibility. The public call he has requested for discussing about his squad's behavior in facing the Flame Dragon is probably a desperate attempt to gain some support from the people. But even in this case, it will probably be just a matter of time.»

Pedersoli looked out of the window: the snow was starting to fall once again, covering all things with a pure white coat.

«It's all so… incredible. As son of my father and former Chief of Staff, I lived side by side with this secret since birth. But now that I'm fully inside of it, and I can see its consequences for our world… well…»

«I think I know this kind of sensation. As servants of our Country, we're forced to know and keep so powerful secrets that can deprive us of sleep, but at the same time we must endure in order to achieve the same duties for which we've been chosen.»

«A poetical way to describe our curse, miss Scoleri» Pedersoli smiled. «When did you become so romantic?»

«A bit of romance is the sole thing that can save our sanity in the ocean of lies and mud where I'm forced to swim every day, don't you think?» she replied in the same way.

In that moment a call reached Ivana's smartphone, and briefly after having answered she got up from her chair.

«I need to go. There's been an IS attempt in Wien, and Rigamonti has called an emergency meeting of the government.»

«Given the snowstorm that is about to come, it's better if I go too.»

At that point they both left the bar, and Pedersoli gallantly opened the door of Ivana's blue car helping her to get in.

«We'll have a Christmas party next Sunday in Castria.» the General said when she lowered the car window to salute him. «It would be a pleasure for me and my guys to have a so graceful minister as our special guest.»

«I'll make my best.» she gently answered. «It's been a pleasure to see you again, Nicola.»

«Same for me, Ivana. Take care.»

* * *

The room selected to host the challenge between the school's greatest minds and the sages sent by the Singing People was known as the Room of the World, since its rounded form, the spherical vault ceiling and the high columns which held up the balcony for the crowd representing the twelve main Gods of the Plains' pantheon were an allegoric representation of the World Order.

The judge, which in that case was the same Chancellor Parmenon, used to take place above the high pulpit close to the room's sole window, while the sages facing each other were assigned to each of the two docks facing each other, forming a perfect triangle.

By noon, the balcony was already full of people, especially students and other mages, but even common people and nobles from the king's court: it was the same honor of the school and the city at stake, so it was a very interesting show to be seen for many.

Plus this, much to everyone's surprise, for that particular challenge the school had chosen to send no less than the same Wise Anthelea, probably the wisest mage in Calibria after the Wise Pharmenon, followed by one of her most capable students, the young Imperial Lyndon.

«Where's Radoni?» Lunardi asked seeing only Sadee and Medea near the Italian dock.

«I sent Valenti in search for him.» said Stefanini

«That goddamn geek.» Rocco protested. «He chose the best moment for disappear.»

When the Chancellor entered, the entire room remained silent, waiting for his words.

«This is a Challenge of virtue and knowledge.» Pharmenon proclaimed when he climber on the pulpit. «Noble strangers from a distant land have asked to try their knowledge against the best of our sages, and today we're here to accept their request.

That the heralds present the contenders!»

The first one was the herald of the school, which presented Lady Anthelea as the wisest and most capable sage and wizard ever seen in Calibria, the only one in the school's history which had been able to achieve the Sage title before being twenty years old, and the young Lyndon as her most talented pupil, the best the Empire's magical schools had to offer.

Then it was the turn of the Italians, and according to Lunardi's decision Rizzoli, which was very well known for being a pro chatterbox, reached the center of the room in the herald's clothes.

«Uhm…» he initially hesitated, while the entire room watched him. «Signore e Signori, allegria*!»

No one spoke, with the Calibrians unable to understand what he had just said and his companions stunned for disbelief.

«You're not funny!» Lunardi shouted

«Sorry Captain, I was just trying to ease tension.» he replied before starting to speak again, this time mimicking Beppe Bergomi's** way to talk. «Ladies and gentlemen, we're on air from Calibria Magic School's World Room for assist to a thrilling duel of knowledge between the school's elite magicians and the Italian Scholars National Team. So, let's see the Italian formation: for the Naturalistic and Historic Sciences, I introduce you Princess Sadee of Aven, the last member of the Arlea Forest's High Elves, the wisest of the wisest. There's no question she cannot answer. Three hundred years of knowledge and glamor beyond comparison. While for the Geographic Sciences, I'm happy to introduce you the not-yet-arrived wise and beautiful Lady Radika, the best of wisdom and beauty in the most gorgeous body you could imagine, which has already destroyed the common stereotype of the Warrior Bunnies and now will prove all of her might leaving defeated and speechless the best members of this Magic School.»

However, just as Rizzoli had said, there was no trace of the second member of the Italian team.

«Where's Lady Radika?» Pharmenon demanded. «We cannot begin without her.»

«Lady Radika has been a bit sick last night» Medea answered naming the first excuse she managed to find «So she's probably still sleeping.»

«Sick?»

«If the Wise Judge has no objection, we have no problems in postponing the challenge.» said Anthelea without prejudice

«It will not be necessary.» Sadee replied. «We sent one of us to call her, and she'll be here right in time to face her match. In meantime, I'll face the challenge in her place.»

«Are you sure you want to begin the challenge even if you're alone, Lady Sadee?» the Judge asked. «The rules are clear, each member of the team must face at least one quest, and since you're alone you'll not be able to ask for support if you're unable to answer a question.»

«This is not a problem, Wise Judge. I'll compete for myself until my partner will be here.»

The Chancellor hesitated for a moment, but at the end he took his gavel.

«Very well. In this case…» and he banged the wooden anvil in front of him. «Let the challenge begin!»

* * *

Giada's knocks at the door were nothing more than a far noise for Giuseppe, which were still firm and motionless on the bed after an entire night without rest, dominated by fear and dark thoughts.

He was nothing.

Her mind was full of ideas, memories and other things, but he was neither sure of how much of that knowledge really belonged to him and what where the parts instilled in her mind cause of the spell.

But the worst thing was that he couldn't know how many things had been erased from her mind for being replaced with the new knowledge, and being aware of the fact that this transformation was proceeding even in that moment without he could do nothing to stop it was frightening.

She couldn't even know what and how many things he had already forgotten. He was still able to remember his true name, his age, where she had spent most of his life as a human, but at the opposite he wasn't able to remember neither the name of his grade school, nor the name of his reference professor in the day of his high school's final exam.

His life was fading.

Her consciousness was fading. And the sole fact of thinking to himself first as a male in a first moment and as a female the following one was the best proof.

And there was nothing he could do to stop this.

It was not an enemy she was able to face, neither with all of those war abilities that she was learning without even wanting it: because the enemy was his own mind.

«What should I do?» he asked closing her eyes, almost in a desperate attempt of convincing herself that all that was just a nightmare. «I don't want it. I don't want to disappear.»

Suddenly, a light seemed to appear in front of her despite the closed eyes, and the moment she saw it he almost feel himself sucked inside of it, while everything around her seemed to disappear, leaving her body surrounded by that far, warm shine.

Then, the moment she opened eyes, Radoni found herself in a wonderful grass field on the top of a low hill, some sort of Eden with countless, colored species of flowers, a cobalt sky with pale and beautiful white clouds, a pine forest all around and, at the hill's bottom, even a small lake; the air was filled with a pleasant smell of honey, and the wind whistling was like an harmonious song.

Radoni was speechless: all seemed so true, so real, but at the same time there was a strange, smoky aura all around, as if that place was fake, like an incredibly vivid dream: she was able to feel everything, but at the same time something was telling him that it was not true, and that place was just an illusion, a mirage of peace created inside of his mind.

Even before he could fully realize what was happening to him, the young professor found out being not alone in that sort of daydream.

Not far from her, sat along the lake's banks, there was a young, astonishing warrior bunny, with long, silver hair, red ruby eyes and a regal, respectable poise.

Saying she was beautiful was almost euphemistic: she was… perfect. Even if dressed in poor, slave clothes Radoni felt a strange sense of respect toward her, almost like if he was in presence of a queen, or even a goddess.

When the nameless young woman noted him, she got up and walked in her direction.

«Who are you?» she asked, gently but firmly. «I've never seen you before. You're not one of my tribe, right?».

«I… I…» Radoni confusedly stammered

«I see.» the woman smiled. «You have no idea of what's happening. But you must certainly be a pure and fierce member of our race for having been able to reach this place.»

At that point, Radoni began to understand.

The Cogitum, or the Hall of Purity. A mystic, almost ascetic experience which only the purest ones among the Warrior Bunnies were able to taste, allowing them to reach a place between the real world and the dream world, a middle-land where even the ones which were thousands of miles far from each other were able to meet and talk, while tasting the greatest, most pleasurable sense of peace.

«So, this is your first time in the Hall of Purity.» the gentle woman said. «In this case, allow me to give you my best welcome. I spent so much time alone that it's good being able to talk with someone else at last.»

Radoni trembled: he had no doubts that the woman in front of him was a pure Warrior Bunny, but for what he had been able to read during his studies there were really few people with a pure enough blood and enough knowledge to reach that place, willingly or not.

And at that point, Giuseppe understood: the regal woman in front of her could only be…

«Queen… Tyuule?»

* * *

«The match is over!» Pharmenon proclaimed. «The Singing People win the Natural Sciences' proof.»

Despite the Calibrian's defeat in that first match the crowd clapped Lady Sadee, which had been able to defeat Lyndon completely alone, even if she had needed to answer at more than thirty questions before being finally able to force her opponent to remain silent.

«It's only the first round, and I'm sweating already.» Amato commented. «That girl is a real badass.»

«But even Lady Sadee is incredible.» Valenti commented. «It's even wiser than I thought.»

«For the next match, the argument will be Geography.» Pharmeon said while an attendant was passing him the box housing the questions. «Each team choose the Wise.»

Anthelea, as predicted, chose to remain and face even the second match, and since there was still no trace of Radoni Sadee had no choice but do the same.

«I'll represent my people even for this second task.» she said taking place at her dock once again.

«Lady Sadee, you can't do this.» Medea tried to say. «You're not skilled in this argument, while Lady Anthelea…»

«Do you have a better idea?» she grumbled. «I'll try to gain as much time as possible, so go searching that idiot and tell him that I'll kill him with my own hands if he's not here within five minutes.»

* * *

Giuseppe remained speechless for a long time the moment he realized that in front of him there was none other than Queen Tyuule, the former supreme ruler of The Ten Tribes, probably the bigger Warrior Bunnies Alliance in the Plains ever known.

As queen of the famous and respected Algkin Tribe, she had spent much of her life in the attempt of unite her entire people for the first time in their history, but the Empire's invasion of Haqaba had destroyed her dream, and now, according to the voices, she had become the slave of the same man which had wiped away her sisters, the Imperial Prince Zorzal.

«You seem really young, sweetheart.» Tyuule said in a very friendly, almost maternal tone. «But I can feel a strange and great power coming from you. Are you a shaman?»

«I… no…» she stammered, barely able to fight the impulse of kneeling in front of her. «But… are you really… queen Tyuule?»

«Surely I'm Tyuule. About the queen part, well… I suppose you already know my story. I ceased being it a long time ago. And you? Your tribe too has been wiped away like my own? Or maybe you were part of the Ten Tribes?»

«No… yes… as I can say… I… I'm part of queen Pentesia's tribe.»

«My cousin Pentesia.» Tyuule smiled. «So she has been able to escape after the siege. I'm glad to hear that.»

«She… she's trying to reunite our people right now, joining with the survived tribes in northern and eastern Plains.»

«I knew I could trust her. She's the only one which can complete what I started.»

Then, after a brief moment of melancholy, the queen turned once again to Radoni.

«But I didn't even ask for your name, my dear. Who are you?»

«I…» the professor hesitated. «I'm Radika, my queen.»

«A beautiful name. Then Radika, please take care of my cousin. I know she'll be able to complete my work, but we both know she's incredibly hot-blooded.»

Radika's eyes however, when the initial surprise vanished, filled with sadness and discomfort, and Tyuule had no problem in noting it.

«Is there something wrong, my dear? You seem really proved.»

«No, it's… it's nothing…»

«You're lying» Tyuule smiled. «It's obvious that there's an heavy burden on your heart.»

«Well…» Radika blushed. «Actually… but really, it's nothing that my queen should worry about…»

«Nonsense. Even if I'm not a queen anymore in role, I'm still in title. And as a queen, I simply cannot ignore one of my daughters' sufferings. Sometimes, the simple fact of having someone close to you to talk and confess your feelings can be enough to surpass many problems.»

«I fear it's not so easy, my queen.» Radika said with a sad smile

«Just try it. I'm here to listen you.»

Queen Tyuule was so kind, so incredibly friendly, that the professor proved to be simply unable to refuse her help.

Then, they both sat along the banks, and for a brief time Radika left the peace of that paradise free to fill her body, searching in meantime the proper words to explain her situation.

«The truth is that… I don't know who I am anymore.»

«You don't know it?»

«It's almost like if there's someone else inside of me, which is trying to steal me away everything. My mind, my heart… my same soul. I know it, and I would like to stop it, but I can't. And every time I think about it, I find out that something else has been taken away from me. As if this… other me is trying to replace my heart with her own.

And I don't want it. I don't want to disappear. I'm… scared.»

«You are you, Radika. There's no way you could disappear.»

«No, I'm not. I'm not strong, not enough to face something like this. There are many people which count on me, but if this other me will prevail, I'll not be able to help them. I fear of being already not able to help them.»

«You're wrong. You're strong. If not, how do you think you could be able to reach this place?»

Radika winched, and the tears for sadness stopped before they could wet her yes.

«I think I know what you're feeling right now, my daughter. Now you see me as a pure and fierce girl, but this is just an ideal image of me. The truth is that right now I'm nothing more than Prince Zorzal's personal toy.»

«You… what…»

«Don't worry. I chose this fate by my own, in exchange for something much more important than my body or my freedom. The problem is that this no-life I was forced to live almost made me forget my true self.

I was almost at the point to forget everything, but at the end I forced myself to remember who I truly was. Because until we'll be able to remember who we are, that will be the proof that we're alive.»

«That's the problem, lady Tyuule. I'm not able to remember who I am or what I know anymore. The other me is taking those memories away from me.»

«Nonsense. Your memories, your thoughts, they're the sole thing that no one will be ever able to steal you.» then she smiled, passing her warm hand over Radika's cheek. «And in any case, I think you're simply too strong-willed for surrendering to this other you, or not?».

Feeling her touch, Radika thought to hear even something else, almost like if the queen was transmitting her part of her strong spirit through her hand.

That pleasurable sensation filled her body in the blink of an eye, and for an instant Radika was able to see them again: all those memories she thought lost were right there in front of her, and inside of her soul; they were weak, strangled by new, intrusive knowledge, but they were still existing. It was up to her to keep them alive.

Suddenly, Tyuule's body begun to become more fleeting, and even the field, the lake and all other things around them started to fade like a picture.

«Queen Tyuule!»

«I'm sorry, my daughter. It's time for me to wake up. But I'll wait for you in my next dream. Remember, you are you.»

Before knowing it, Radika found herself alone, surrounded by light, with an invisible force which was dragging her away gently but firmly, back to her physic body.

«I too must return.» she said in a new spirit. «They're waiting for me.»

* * *

Sadee loved every kind of knowledge, and had spent travelling for all the Special Region much of her life.

However, she had a problematic relationship with Geography, and her lack of direction was well known even among Lunardi and his guys.

She hoped being able to endure at least for thirty questions or more, but at the end she was forced to raise the white flag after barely nine answers.

Unfortunately, there was no rule in the questions' selection: the wooden plates in which they were written were taken out from the box randomly by Wise Pharmenon, so it was even possible to have an incredibly easy question for one time and another one, completely different, the following one.

«The second quest goes to the School's delegation.»

«I knew it.» said Lunardi.

«I can't believe it.» said an incredibly tense Torrisi. «It's worse than the penalty kicks in a world cup final.»

«We have no choice but to put everything in the last match.» said Amato

«What match!?» Rocco shouted. «That goddamn geek is still cursing missing!»

In fact, when Pharmenon announced the beginning of the final quest, Sadee's and Medea's fear was more than enough to prove that they too had no idea of how to solve that situation.

«Both delegation choose their wise to face the last proof!»

Both Lyndon and Radoni were the only choice left, but if the young mage took place the moment he was called by the Judge, the young professor was still missing.

«We cannot wait much longer, Lady Sadee.» Pharmenon admonished her. «Name your Sage.»

«Can… can I face this third proof too?» she asked well knowing the inevitable answer

«You know it's not possible. Rules are clear, each member of the delegation have to face at least one quest. If you're not able to provide a Sage for this quest, I'll have no choice but to recognize your opponents' victory.»

One of the room's door violently opened in that moment, and right when Lunardi and the others were fearing for the worse, Radika made her appearance on the battlefield, wearing just half of her sage vest but as strong-willed and determined as her friend never remembered having seen her.

«Sorry for delay.» she said. «I'm here to face my quest!»

«Thanks God.» Lunardi suspired after a long silent

The crowd, initially confused, finally applauded the newcomer.

«At least they still love him.» Valentina commented

Before taking place to the dock, Radika had a brief glance exchange with Sadee and Medea, which happily smiled noting that the fear and discomfort of the day before appeared to be completely disappeared from their friend's eyes.

«Are you ready?» asked Sadee

«Like few other times.»

When she was ready, Radika exchanged a fast glance even with her opponent Lyndon.

«Good luck, Wise Radika.»

«You too, boy.» she maliciously answered.

The attendant at that point took to Pharmenon the last box.

«The final quest of the wisdom challenge can begin. The final argument is history! The first question is for Lady Radika!»

Neither Radoni nor Sadee were very skillful in history, and especially in the Plains' history, and that quest was the sole one Sadee were almost sure they would have lost, and now that their fate depended on it the elven princess was incredibly worried.

But what she and the other ones saw was truly incredible: no mattered the question, Giuseppe was always able to answer. His knowledge was almost astonishing, and before the thirtieth question the entire room was already speechless.

«But when did he learned all these things?» Medea demanded at a certain point. «Lady Sadee…»

The truth was that Radika too had no explanation for the countless number of things she knew; she was able to remember almost everything she had studied in her academic life, but there was even something more, and she had no problem in recognize that maybe she had to thank the Warrior Bunny inside her, and the incredible number of knowledge that Medea's spell was making flourish in her mind.

But Lyndon too was a very skillful Sage, and Radika felt a wave of passion in battling with him, pitying herself for having mistaken that young genius for a sweet and apparently naïve student.

«Question number sixty-four for the Singing People's Sage.» said an equally exhausted Pharmenon. «Wise Radika, are you ready?»

«Yes, Wise Judge. Name your question.»

He took the plate, but he strangely hesitated before reading it.

«That Wise Radika answers this. What was the name of the deity worshiped by the ancient Warrior Bunnies tribe known as the Lugirath in the sacred forest of Tamahandra, in the Eastern Plains?»

A shocked silence filled the room, and like all other times everyone looked each other in search for an answer: but this time, there was only vague glances and confused faces.

«But what kind of question is this?» almost shouted Sadee

Even Medea, probably the only one knowing the answer, remained speechless in fear.

«This is part of our most ancient history. Even a pure Warrior Bunny would have problems in finding the answer. I fear this is too much even for him.»

And in fact, Radika remained long on silence, apparently unable to answer.

«Lady Radika…» said an almost sorry Lyndon

«Please, tell me he can say "passaparola"***.» Rizzoli said in desperation

Theoretically there were two minutes to answer, but since Radika seemed have no idea of how to answer, Pharmenon took the hammer to announce the end of the quest.

«Shillik!» Radika suddenly shouted. «Her name was Shillik, the Goddess of the Clouds.»

She had never known that name or the name of the tribe, but despite this the answer was right there in her mind, and she knew that it was correct.

«It's… it's correct!» proclaimed Pharmenon.

The shocked silence lasted a little bit more, but at the end the crow exploded in a single, passionate applause; even Lunardi and the others cheered.

«Well done, geek!» Cassetti said. «You're the best one!»

At that point, it was time for another question.

«Question number sixty-four for the School's Sage. Wise…»

«It will be not necessary, Wise Judge.» Lyndon said raising the arm

«What!?»

He and Anthelea exchanged a brief glance, smiling each other.

«Neither me nor Wise Anthelea would have been able to answer the last question your grace made to our opponents. For this, we both recognize our defeat in this challenge.»

The crowd sighed in surprise, but when Wise Pharmenon, accepting the Wises of the School's surrender, banged his hammer proclaiming the Italian victory, the applauses started again, even higher than before.

«We did it!» Rizzoli exclaimed. «I can't believe it!»

While everyone were still exulting, Radika looked toward the sky beyond the window, rethinking to the incredible sequences of things just happened to her.

«I am I.» she said to herself. «I'll not forget it anymore. Thank you, Queen Tyuule.»

* * *

* Famous quote used by the Italian-American TV _presenter Mike Bongiorno_

** Famous Italian sportscaster

*** A referrence to the old Italian tv game show with the same name, presented by _Jerry Scotti_


	17. The God's Work

_**Notes:**_

 _Hi my friends._

 _Things are changing fast, and we're really close to the story's climax, all pieces are at their place and soon the big game will begin!_

 _For now, enjoy this "calm before the storm" chapter, and stay tuned for the real fun!^^_

 _Thanks as always to all those that read and comment this story!^^_

 _See you soon!^_^_

 _Cj Spencer_

* * *

16

It has been a long and sometimes difficult job, but finally Vulcan's temple was right in front of them, rebuilt and astonishing as never before.

The interior had been repainted and was now a triumph of paintings and statues representing the God's triumphs in the Age of Myth, while the external part was finally free of the debris and, even watching it carefully, it was almost impossible to note the repairs done with cement and modern lime.

«Phew.» Niang said in front of the building. «It seems we've finally finished.»

«It's absolutely magnificent!» said Tymlin, which despite all had given her personal contribution to the works, while hugging Lunardi. «Thank you so much, Master Lunardi.»

«Ehi, what about us!» Valenti protested

«But now you have to respect your promise.» the Captain replied. «You'll leave the tower and you'll move here to absolve your duties.»

«Of course. An apostle never breaks her promises. This city will become the cradle of a new cult for Mighty Vulcan.»

Lunardi then turned to his men, clearly exhausted but even satisfied and proud for their nice work.

«You did all of yourself for this temple, and you made a great job. You deserve a prize. You have the rest of the day for free.»

«Thank you sir!» Wang said for everyone.

Soon all of them left, but Amato remained, and judging from his face he was really upset.

«Problems?»

«No, sir, it's nothing…» he tried to say, but the selfie with Kyatia he clumsily tried to hide when his Captain approached was the best answer.

Lunardi had no problem in understanding the reasons for his discomfort. After all, he wasn't the sole one in the Falcon-1 with that face in the last days.

«Had you made plans for Christmas?»

«Well… uhm… I promised her to make her know my parents, and…»

«I thought they forbidden you to take her on the other side of the gate.»

«Yes, but… my father was in the Navy. He knows the meaning of classified information. However before leaving Castria General Pedersoli said there was the opportunity for her to meet him and my mother in a safe zone not far from the base, or even on this side, for next Christmas. But now...»

«I'm sorry, Matteo. No one was able predict that this mission would take so long.»

«No sir, you don't have to be sorry.» the young soldier answered. «After all we knew there was this possibility.»

«By the way, honestly I thought that your one with Kyatia was just a temporary thing, but now you two seem really serious in going forward with your story.»

«Well… she's a kind but smart girl. It doesn't matter if she seems a cat, she's… special. I always dreamed for a girl with her wild attitude and her free spirit.» but at that point Amato smiled in discomfort. «But the truth is that at the moment I don't either know if our story will have a future. I mean… there's no certainty that we will remain in this world for a long time. And if they should decide to make us go away…»

Lunardi remained silent for a moment, then he put a hand on his shoulder.

«Let's put it in these terms. The politicians aim to create a diplomatic relationship with the Empire, and if they succeed it they'll be forced to reveal the truth to the world, right?»

«Y… yes, I think yes.»

«And if this happens, there will be fewer problems in allowing some inhabitants of this world, like Kyatia, to cross the gate and come to live on Earth, since there will be no more need to keep the secret, am I right?»

Then, having understood what his Captain was trying to say, Amato smiled.

«I understood. You mean that our fate as a couple depends on this mission.»

«Precisely. One more reason to put all of ourselves in this task, waiting for the moment when we'll be able to enjoy the fruits of our work.»

«You're right, Captain.» Amato sighed. «Unfortunately, right now the fate of the mission is not in our hands, right? It's all up to lady Sadee and Radik… I mean, professor Radoni.»

«Of course. But do you maybe know someone more trustworthy than those two?»

* * *

«I fear we have a problem…» said an astonished Sadee while looking around, and especially under her feet.

The Magic School's secret library was similar to a giant, underground amphitheater, with a succession of terraces, one for each era in which the books had been stored, which became always bigger as they proceeded toward the bottom.

And each single terrace was completely filled with documents, books and scrolls, not to mention the internal corridors and the niches even along the stairs which connected the terraces with each other.

Since they were underground there were neither windows nor natural lighting, and the sole lights were provided by torches and magic globes.

«This place… is huge…» said Radika

«I've never seen so much knowledge in all my life.» said Medea

«This is the heart of all knowledge of this world.» said Pharmenon. «You'll find no other places so filled with our cultural and historical heritage in any land.»

«But… how many documents are stored in this place, exactly?» asked the elven princess

«Well… the truth is that… we don't exactly know.»

«You don't know it!?» replied Radika

«Unfortunately» Anthelea answered. «Almost one-third of the ancient records have been lost in a fire almost two centuries ago, and since then we've not been able to completely rebuild them anymore.»

«So, we have no idea of where to begin.» said Sadee

«As I understand it, your one is a historic research. The story section is stored in the lowest basement, and part of the records is still intact.»

«Unfortunately, it's also the biggest section of the library.» said Pharmenon. «If you're really in search of something down there, it will not be easy for you to find it.»

«By the way» Medea asked after a brief excitation and a glance exchange with Wise Radika. «Can you tell me please where the records of the ancient wises are stored? I think that should be… something interesting for our research.»

Anthelea and Pharmenon looked at each other for a moment, then the young Wise answered.

«You can find them in the second section, right under our feet, but since their records have been almost completely destroyed it will not be easy for you to find something right there.»

«This is not a problem.» the warrior-bunny smiled. «I'm a really patient guy.»

«All right. Come, we show you the place.»

Sadee and Radika then remained alone, and for the first time in her centenary life as researcher and archaeologist the elven princess feared to having facing something bigger than her.

«This is madness. How can we find something in particular in this mess?»

«I'm surprised at you, Sadee. Where's your thirst for new quests? This will not be worse than that time at the Marciana.»

«But how do you think we'll do it? We don't even know what we're exactly searching for.»

«How big is your knowledge of human historians of this world , Lady Sadee?»

«What!? Well… I know plenty of the most renowned historians of the Empire, and even one or two of the Plains' ones, but I had no occasion to read most of their works personally…»

«That's enough. We'll begin from the ones that we both know. There will be need for an important philological work.»

«To which kind of work are you thinking exactly?»

«If our theory is true, the Romans have reached this world from Castria two thousand years ago, more or less.»

«But Castria has never been part of the Empire for what we know.»

«Precisely. I don't know why, but probably they moved from their original landing point when some unknown circumstances have forced them to do it. And in doing this, it's highly probable that they passed right through here, from the Plains, because I doubt that they would have chosen a risky and insidious route like the Mountain Range when they had such a large and easy to cross land right in front of them.

Who knows, maybe the same Calibria might have been built by a small part of those colonists which has decided to stop here instead of proceeding south with the rest of their people.»

«Interesting solution. But will we ever be able to prove it?»

«You're an archeologist, Sadee. So you know exactly like me that each time an entire people moves from a place to another one, it always leaves behind some traces of its passage.

The coins and other things you found along your journeys are a clear proof that this theory might be true, but if we could find something even more trustable, like a document or a chronicle written by a respected historian or someone which took place in that mass migration, then there would be no place for more doubts.»

«Are you saying that we should search book by book those proofs?»

«Obviously not. An entire life wouldn't be enough to do it. We'll have to have a different approach to the problem. A philological one.»

Sadee understood. After all, she had studied among the Earthlings for years, and even if she was still a bit ignorant about their research methods she knew the meaning of philological work.

«From which point should we start for you?»

«The Empire's historians are the most trustable, even if most of them tend to have a political and imperial centric vision of history. I suggest starting with the most apolitical among them, and possibly the most recent ones who have made researches about the Empire's origins and could have reached our same suppositions. From note to note, we could be able to reach the basement of the pyramid, and who knows, even the original chronicle from which everything started.»

The fire of passion was burning in Radika's eyes while she was talking, and Sadee smiled when she noticed it.

«What's the problem?» Radika said when she noted her mentor's expression

«It's been a long time since I saw that light in your eyes, Giuseppe. You almost seem to have come back to your old self.»

The professor remained speechless for a few moments, but at the end she smiled too.

«Well, let's say that it's all thanks to a… special friend.»

«Come on.» finally said Sadee. «Let's get to work.»

* * *

The road across the Mountain Range was something more than a pathway, to be euphemistic, and even if the LMV were trustworthy and powerful vehicles, Falcon-9 was forced to move incredibly slowly, not to mention that in order to achieve the other half of their mission Dante and his men had been forced to stop many times along the road to search for enthium mines; however, under this aspect their efforts had been almost completely useless, since all the sites they had found till that moment were extinguished or almost empty.

Fortunately, once they had passed the Bastuf Line - an imaginary border between the northern Range, where human settlements were almost absent, and the southern one, still outside of the Empire but in its sphere of influence already - the road condition had significantly improved, not to mention that there was much less snow on ground and so proceeding was much easier.

«We must pay attention.» Dante said while they were approaching to Sigma Point. «We're not far from the Empire's border anymore, and even if this is an unfrequented place we could find someone here around.»

«The guys in Gamma Point said that the bases are located in places far from the common way routes.» said Zori. «After all, I mean, we crossed the Bastulf Line almost one week ago and we haven't met one single human being yet.»

Suddenly, when they finally left the forest, Sigma Point ultimately appeared in front of them, perched over a small and low hillock and enclosed like all other bases inside of a circular wall of pine trunks, with the top of the antenna appearing from the center.

«Sigma Point in sight, sir.» Santalba said from the turret.

However, Dante and his men noted almost immediately that there was something terribly wrong.

Not to mention that there was no one on the sighting galleries or above the observation tower, some parts of the wall were darkened by fire, and strange smoke clouds came from inside.

A terrible suspicion filled the soldiers' minds. They knew that it was possible to find something similar since the first moment Sorru had told them about Sigma Point's conditions, and for this they had tried to make their journey as fast as possible, sometimes even proceeding in the night or during a storm, but now that their worst nightmares were becoming reality it was a really difficult burden to sustain.

«It's too late.» Dante mourned.

At that point, they ruefully reached the camp's doors, finding them as predicted smashed and collapsed and the ground turned into a single, giant sea of bodies and blood, so many that the squad was forced to stop the vehicles outside the walls and cross the entrance on foot.

The battle had to have been really horrible, but judging from enemy corpses, goblins and orcs for the bigger part, the enemy force had to be made up of not less than five hundred enemies, too many for those twenty guys of the Bersaglieri's 8th Regiment.

Pasetti and the others were speechless. That was not the first time for most of them of finding themselves face to face with such massacre, but surely none of them had ever been forced to see so many young comrades slaughtered and killed like animals.

Most of enemy bodies were outside of the walls, but there was a great number of them even inside, while almost all of the soldiers were regrouped around the antenna, and almost everybody were completely covered in arrows and lances, a clear sign of the fact that the marauders had ultimately preferred kill them from far instead of trying an risky frontal assault.

«They kept them back till they could.» Dante said reading the battle. «But they were too many. When they finally managed to cross the walls, the remaining ones have formed a final stand to protect the antenna.» then he lifted the eyes to the top of the tower, covered in chains and ropes but still standing. «Then, when everything was over, they've tried to destroy it, but when they understood it was impossible they simply left, taking away with them everything of value they could find and leaving behind all else, including their companions' dead bodies.»

In fact, all of the rifles, ammunitions, and even the bulletproof vests had been taken away from the bodies, and a brief inspection proved that the marauders had tried to bring away even the vehicles, a VM-90 and a couple of old jeeps, leaving them behind once understood that they were simply too heavy to be easily moved.

The reinforced concrete door to the antenna's basement was still closed: probably the last of them had been able to block it before being overwhelmed, but thanks to the secret lock and the key found in the Commander's pocket, Dante and his men were able to open it.

Soldiers Gazza and Munaron then entered into the control room with their commander, but since the current generators had been destroyed during the battle they needed to connect one of the deceased squad's vehicles in order to bring it to operational status once again.

Unfortunately, that was not the sole problem.

«The system is damaged.» said Munaron after a brief check. «It needs to be reinstalled.»

«That's why the communication system was offline.» Dante commented. «Can you repair it?»

«With all respect Major, with whom do you think you're speaking?» Gazza sarcastically answered. «Don't worry, this baby will cry once again in the blink of an eye.»

«Perfect.»

Then, Dante returned to the courtyard, where in the meantime the other ones had already begun recovering their comrades' platelets from the bodies, before enfolding them inside nylon clothes and other makeshift shrouds.

«Ok guys. Let's give those boys the burial they deserve.»

At that point, the Major and his men spent the following hour digging graves for their fallen companions, leading them to their eternal rest while Betton kept on playing the _silenzio_. Probably the fate of the corpses was to being taken to Earth in a second moment to receive a proper ceremony, but for now they deserved at least a place where they'd be safe from the rain and wild animals.

Even Zori and Herera joined the work, and the centaur in particular remained really stunned for Dante and his men's respect for the dead: as a centaur, she had always thought of the humans as low and disrespectful creatures, without a true sense of honor, but the way with which those soldiers were treating their comrades, even considering what had happened the other time with the goblin prisoner, pursued her on thinking that maybe the Singing People were truly different from other humans.

When the last body was finally buried, the platoon observed a long moment of silence

« _Onore ai caduti_!» Dante commanded, and the soldiers raised their rifles, while Pasetti respectfully saluted each grave by posing the regiment's flag over every mound.

When the brief ceremony ended, however, the soldier turned their eyes to all other bodies which were filling the courtyard.

«Come on guys, our work it's not over yet.»

And then, to Herera's great surprise, the soldiers begun digging graves even for the enemies, showing them almost the same respect they had for their comrades.

«Master Dante…» the centaur said approaching to the Major while he was busy in digging yet another tomb. «Why… are you doing this?»

«They fought and died exactly like ours. They deserve at least a place to rest.»

«But… they were enemies. They massacred your companions…»

«No matter your side or your reasons, the truth is that we're all living beings, and in front of death, all differences disappear.»

Herera was speechless.

«But… don't you search for revenge?»

«Of course I do, but I'll not allow to my thirst for vengeance wipe away my heart and my respect for death, since it has the power to make us all equals.»

The centaur couldn't believe her eyes and ears.

In the centaurs' culture, someone who had thrown away his honor and pride like those marauders was no longer considered a living being, and for this he didn't deserve respect neither in the moment of death.

Those men had just lost their friends, but despite this now they were burying their killers with the same respect, as if they too were comrades.

A strange wave of shame filled her chest: different from what she had always thought, she had still many things to learn from the humans, or at least from those humans.

In that moment, Munaron left the control room and headed toward Dante.

«Good news Major.» he said

«Please, leave this to me.» said Herera taking Dante's place in carefully posing a goblin's body into the pit before beginning to cover it.

The Major then reached his soldier.

«Any good news?»

«So so, Sir. We repaired the damages and we've been able to call Omega Point, even if for just a brief instant.»

«Did you tell them what's happened here?»

«Yes sir, and they'll send a new squad to retake the camp as soon as possible. In the meantime, they ask us to do surveillance it in their place.»

Dante reflected for a moment, then he lighted his first _toscano_ since the mission's beginning.

«I suppose we have no choice. All right, let's finish this job and then we'll think to reinforce the camp once again.»

* * *

As the end Christmas was just one week away, and even if there was no hope anymore for the long desired free license, Falcon-1 was doing its best to prepare the best celebration possible.

For some of them that one would not have been the first Christmas far from home, but despite this, it was destined for sure to be the most unusual one of their life, not only far from home but even from their same world.

Calibria was a city rich in food, drinks and spices, and Brugnoni was a very skillful cook, capable to turn even the poorest ingredients in a delicious dish.

Since the temple's repair was now finished, Cassetti and the others had even too much free time, so that day Brugnoni had ordered almost all of them to reach every single market of the city in search of the things he needed to create his special Christmas Lunch.

Cassetti had been assigned to the big market in the main plaza, and after an hour spent visiting almost all of the stalls he was about to come back at the tower.

However, a familiar shouting voice caught his ear to the preachers' pulpit, from which Tymlin was desperately trying to catch everyone's attention shouting in all directions her confused sermons about Vulcan and his cult.

«Vulcan is the greatest god ever existed! His power has no limit! His force destroys the earth! His rage opens the skies! Embrace Vulcan's faith, you'll not regret it!»

But exactly like the other times, almost no one stopped to listen. Moreover, at a certain point, a citizen guard reached the pulpit with a menacing expression, asking her to leave the place.

«This is not a place for children. Leave.»

«How did you call me!?» Tymlin exploded. «I'm not a child!»

«The merchants say that you're scaring their clients with your shouts. Now come down before they get even more angry.»

«It's ok, gentleman.» Cassetti intervened. «She's the Apostle of Vulcan.»

«An apostle!? This brat!?»

«What!» the girl shouted. «A brat! Now I teach you…» but Cassetti rapidly grabbed and silenced her.

«Please, be patient. I'm asking you from soldier to soldier. She's just fulfilling her duties the best she can.»

The guard reflected for a moment, but at the end he finally surrendered.

«All right, she can stay. But one more shout and I'll kick her tiny ass out of this square, Apostle or not.»

Then he left, but Cassetti waited till he left the square before letting Tymlin go: however, the little girl was too depressed to be enraged like the other times.

«Still problems with your rhetoric?» the soldier asked

«It's useless.» she sadly said sat to the ground. «No matter how strongly I shout or what I say, they don't listen to me.»

«To preach is not just a matter of shouting and saying things.» said the soldier with a smile. «You can't simply speak about your God, you must tell his story. The people around you need to understand the basics of your faith, and the reason for which you believe on it so strongly. They must think of your God as a powerful, but even gentle being, someone who is not chained to our world, but finds beyond, in a place which can be seen by only having faith.»

«You make it easy. But how can I do it?» but at that point an idea popped in Tymlin's mind. «You! Maybe you can do it!»

«What!?» Cassetti jumped in disbelief

«Please, do it. Last time, when you spoke at the funeral of Master Lunardi's father, you've been incredible. Your words were outstanding. Speak them about Vulcan and his might, I'm sure they'll listen to you!»

«But I can't.» the soldier timidly replied. «He's not my God. I cannot spread a faith which is not the one I follow. It would be a lack of respect both to my God and your own.»

For a moment Tymlin despondently looked at him, but immediately after her face changed again.

«At least help me get their attention. If you speak for a while maybe they'll listen to you, and then they could listen to me too. And I could even learn something more by hearing the way you speak.»

«Well…» Cassetti hesitantly said

«Please.»

Tymlin's eyes were so incredibly cute and full of hope that Cassetti was simply unable to ignore them, even if he had never made a sermon in front of a crowd in all his life, much less he had never acted as a preacher in front of a crowd of unbelievers.

Trying to calm the heartbeat, the soldier hesitantly climbed the stairs, reaching the top of the pulpit and remaining for a long time to watch the people who passed up and down in front of him. Then, he took his bible from the pocket, and after a second, even longer hesitation he opened it, started to read.

«Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.»

The first to stop was an aged woman less than ten seconds after he had begun, then was the turn of a young man, and then a young mother with her two daughters. And before that Cassetti was able to end that brief reading, there were already ten persons in front of the pulpit.

* * *

At dusk, Cassetti hadn't come back yet to the tower, and so Lunardi told Valenti to go in search for him.

When the girl reached the square, the stalls were almost all closed already, but at the opposite around the pulpit there was a little crowd of almost one hundred people, completely taken by the preacher's sermon, and Giada remained completely speechless when she noted that the preacher was none other than the same Cassetti.

«And then the Holy Spirit descended over Peter and the Apostles, and a voice from the heaven spoke to them. I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; it's the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; But you know him, for he lives with you and will be always in you. And then the Apostles left and went across the world, telling the power and glory of God Almighty.»

«You too are an Apostle of God?» asked a man

«No, I'm not. God had just one Apostle, which was our Lord Jesus Christ.»

«But you said that Jesus has died.» said an old woman. «This is not possible. The apostles cannot die.»

«He has resurrected. Three days after his apparent death, he made return to the Home of the Father, and then he appeared in body and soul in front of his disciples so that they could see the Glory of the Heavens.»

«But how can I believe in God if I can't see him?» demanded a young girl.

«The power of God is not in statues or prints. His power is in you. Is in the food you eat, the water you drink, the earth you stomp. Everything you see has been made by God, and represents his Almighty Power. Jesus said: "If you look in a grain of sand or in the clouds of the sky, then you'll see your God."»

«But this does not change the fact that Jesus died.» a guard said. «If an Apostle can be killed so easily by common humans, where's His power?»

«It's true.» said another man. «Why has God let his Apostle die like a criminal?»

«He has died on this world to purge all of living beings from their sins. So that we could still be able to reach our place alongside Him in the Kingdom of Heaven. Because death is just a temporary condition. Since if you believe in God and in His power, then your spirit will never die. Your soul will reach the Glory of Heavens, waiting for the day for the final judgment, when all spirits will come back to their bodies, and the Power of God will rule everything.»

Giada remained to listen for a while, but at a certain moment her attention was caught by Tymlin, who sat next to the pulpit with the most depressed face she had ever seen.

«Problems?» she asked

«That… That's not how it was supposed to end!»


	18. Lupus in Fabula

_**Author's Notes.**_

 _Hi again!^_^_

 _I needed a bit of time to write this chapter, but finally it's here and ready. The truth is that originally I was planning to create one single chapter involving Itami and the others' sole appearence in this story, but when the chapter reached the seventh page I understood that maybe it was better to split it in two._

 _There's not much else to say, exept that the events of this chapter and the following one happens between Chapters 25 and 26 of the manga (or ep. 10 and 11 of the anime)_

 _See you soon!^_^_

 _Cj Spencer_

* * *

17

Depending on its power and influence, each city-state controlled from ten to twenty miles of land outside the walls, but other than that the Plains were one single giant no man's land.

Plus this there were a certain number of special areas, like mines, oasis and fortifications along the main roads, and their possession was the main reason for many of the wars among the city-states, not to mention the political alliances which used to tirelessly change the face of the main factions.

For this, the work of scouts, sentinels and sometimes small patrols was vital in assuring an acceptable surveillance, not to mention the guard posts placed in strategic areas like hills, woods and close to the rivers, and even if since the Empire's failed campaign of three years before no more war had tainted the Plains it was a good thing being always alert.

That morning, a couple of Calibrian light horsemen were patrolling the northern Plains fifty miles north of the city, along an old and now almost completely abandoned shepherds route uncovered by the watching towers not far from the deep and narrow reef known as Hardy's Fang.

«This damn sun!» protested one of them. «It's barely dawn and I'm soaking wet already.»

«You guys from the northern plains are all the same.» jokingly said his partner. «A bit of heat is enough to make you cry like babies. Bir Mashak is not exactly a grassy land covered in woods and mountains, or not?»

«I don't know what is worst, be forced to live under Reich's threat or this unbearable southern sun. I knew I'd have to move even further south when I left my land.»

«Of course, the more you go toward south the better the climate is. But this means going incredibly close to the Empire.»

«Trust me my friend, after having seen what Reich is capable of, there's no way for one or two Imperial legions to scare me.»

Since the sun was becoming heavier, shortly after the two scouts stopped under a lone tree for have a little rest break, taking the opportunity to consume their simple meal of cheese, olives and bread.

While they were eating, however, one of them felt something strange.

«What's the problem?»

«Do you hear it? This smell.»

The other one sniffed the air, and in a couple of seconds he too felt a strange and heavy sulfur smell, the kind that one was able to feel close to a volcano or a mine; the problem was that there were no mines, and certainly no volcanoes in that region.

«By Emroy's balls… this scent…» and the first scout got up from the stone and begun running toward Hardy's Fang.

«Ehi, wait.» his partner tried to say before going behind him.

The cliff was less than one mile far from their position, and right before reaching it the two scouts lay flat on the ground, heading silently toward the edge crawling on the gravel.

They expected to find a camp of marauders, or even a small enemy base: after all, the cliff was the perfect place for hiding, since it was really deep and was rare for someone to pass around there. But what they both saw when they were finally able to look beyond the edge was far beyond any other thing they could imagine.

It was not just a camp: it was the biggest, most massive crowd of tents they had ever seen in all their lives. They had to be no less than two thousands, and each of them was big enough to have thirty or even forty men inside of it, but despite this the camp was covered in the most complete and astonishing silence, as if it had been deserted.

There was no wall or protection around the camp, but there was no need for it: after all, the cliff itself was a perfect natural protection, not to mention that with all that sun and no covers for miles, it was almost impossible for an enemy army to reach Hardy's Fang unnoticed.

Even before noticing the banners or the war flags on the top of many tents, the scouts were already well aware of the invaders' true identity, because both of them had now no doubts on what that smell really was: a messenger of hell, capable to turn an apparent harmless baton of wood and iron into a deadly weapon by the simple touch of a trigger.

«I knew it.» the first one said. «They're Reichians.»

After all, sulfur was one of the necessary ingredients for the black powder able to make the gewehre usable, and judging from the stink coming from those tents there had to be an incredible amount of that goddamn powder in that camp.

Probably most of the occupants were sleeping, waiting for the night to proceed further, because only at night was possible for such astonishing army to march across the plains undetected, and only by moving across unfrequented routes.

«What are they doing here.» the second said. «I thought that the free passage had yet to be established.»

«You really think they would have sent us here without warning us of this, you idiot?» the first replied, ignoring that his partner was also his chief. «They have camped right here to avoid being seen. This is not a peaceful expedition, not at all.»

«Holy Hardy. They must be sixty thousands or more.»

«We must warn Calibria at once.»

But they never had the opportunity to do it.

Both of them were so terrified by what they had just seen, that they remained completely deaf to a noise behind them, and when they finally managed to sense a presence behind them was already too late.

* * *

Kanō entered in Motoi's office right when the resigned Prime Minister was finishing to pack his last things before leaving the Dieta's building, and Motoi had no need to look at him him to understand that he was clearly disappointed.

«What means that Talleri is going to cross the gate?»

«He simply asked for a brief visit on the other side in the name of his nation, and after all that the Italians have done for us, I thought that it could be a simple but important sign of our appreciation for Rigamonti and his government. I spoke with Morita and the others about this, and they agreed with me.

He will see nothing but Alnus and the refugees' growing colony outside of the base, he'll be always under surveillance and he'll not be allowed to bring something back with him or speak about this with no one apart from Rigamonti and his ministers.»

«And why haven't you told me anything about this?»

«Because I knew you would oppose.» Motoi replied turning to Kanō and looking at him in a really serious way. «The truth is that you're biased with them. And honestly, I'm not able to understand why. Rigamonti and his government have been the sole one to act friendly with us.»

«They're exactly like all the others. All they want is being involved in the Special Region's affair.»

«Of course, but at least they always acted fairly, without trying to act behind our back. On contrary, they offered us their help in the recent diplomatic incident. Or do I have to remind you who's passed us those information about CIA's attempts to abduct princess Pina last week?»

Kanō remained on silence for a moment, unable to object.

It was true.

It was thanks to the warning Motoi had received from Rigamonti that they had been able to create that prefect defensive wall around Itami and his squad during the last DIETA's meeting, not to mention that the Italian secret services deployed in Japan right after the first message had been more than useful to locate and arrest the American, Chinese and Russian agents before they could attempt to capture the princess and the three girls in front of the gate.

«We'll not be able to proceed along this road alone for a long time, Taro. We need trustable partners, and I prefer to talk with someone who aims for a pacific and cooperative relation instead of with a nest of snakes which only look at their personal profit.»

«What makes you think the Italians are so different?» Kanō asked in a way that he had never used to talk to his friend and chief

«I knew Rigamonti even before I or he might reach our actual positions. He's a young and aggressive politician like one has never seen since the time of Margaret Thatcher. He's ambiguous and Machiavellian, and he would do everything for his Country. But he's also the kind of man who knows how to fight an honorable battle, and he always seeks for the best route to achieve his goal. Like all the others he's in search for a way to gain his proper advantages from the Special Region, and he's ready to fight with the most powerful nations of the world to succeed.

And you can believe me if I tell you that Japan has already enough enemies out there, and I have no interests to push such kind of man right among them.»

Kanō knew that he had no way to stop Talleri from visiting the Special Region, but even if he had never doubted Motoi's decisions, for the first time he was almost sure that his longtime friend was doing a mistake; because if Shinzo had spent many years in Rome as Japan's ambassador to Italy, Taro's decades of experience as Minister and member of the Japanese Government continued to suggest him that there was something really strange under the Italians' behavior.

«Did you forget what happened in Brescia? You've been almost killed in that failed attempt, not to mention those creatures that have prevented the attack from taking place.»

«And if I remember correctly, it's been the same Talleri to suggest you the right solution for that case.»

The minister fell silent once again; for a moment he had hoped to be wrong about that story, but at last it seemed that Talleri's hypothesis was not as far-fetched as he had initially thought.

«So… they confessed?»

«Obviously not, but the proof against them is unquestionable. It seems that someone in the Secret Service has secretly recovered some of the survivors of the initial attack right after the battle, instructing them in order to turn them into some sort of special force entrusted for our protection. We don't know who's the leader of this plan yet, not to mention the fact that much of the suspects have committed suicide right before being captured, but I left orders for further investigations.»

«And what about the Special Region's inhabitants?»

«When they understood that we were about to find them out, they sent them back in the Special Region. General Hazama and some other members of the Military Police think that they had been taking advantage of some secret supporters on both sides of the gate. To avoid further problems, General Hazama and myself have ordered a complete replacement of all personnel involved in the gate's surveillance, and right now the Military Police is keeping all of the most suspected ones under surveillance.»

Kanō almost fell to the desk's seat, remaining silently to watch while Motoi finished emptying the office.

«I suppose this is the end, my friend.» said the former Prime Minister. «If you'll be chosen to succeed me, I hope you'll remember what I said you about the Italians. Japan desperately needs allies at this moment, and it would be a shame to refuse a friendly hand just because of our prejudices.»

Then Motoi left, leaving Kanō alone to face his phantoms, together with the very bad sensation, which had become truly common in the last months, that Japan's fate was unpredictable like few other times in history.

* * *

«Let me say this.» Rigamonti said at the phone in a very serious and sullen tone. «I needed to collect a lot of old favors to produce those fake proofs and silence the rumors about our involvement in the failed abduction. I hope for your career that it was worth it.»

«Don't worry, mister Prime Minister. If everything goes according to plans, I'll come back from this journey with really good news.» Talleri answered, just to add a laconic. «What a dickhead.» when the communication was over already.

Not far from the gate there was a small building provided with a rear courtyard, surrounded on all sides by high skyscrapers; before the Incident it used to be an Armani's boutique, but when the entire area was closed in order to create a Red Zone all around the gate, the JSDF had turned it into some sort of customs, where all arriving and departing persons and materials were checked up before entering the forbidden area right in front of the protective dome.

«We're ready to depart, Ambassador.» a JSDF soldier called to Talleri from an opened window. «Please come changing.»

«Yes, thank you.»

Talleri then entered in the building, where he was asked by a couple of other soldiers to empty his pockets.

«I'm sorry Ambassador, the orders are clear.» said a Sergeant. «You'll not be authorized to take photos, videos or other things, plus this you'll not be allowed to take something with you from the other side.»

«Of course, I understand.»

Tallery obeyed, putting on the shop's case, now turned into a registration point, all things he had with him: a smartphone, a wallet, the keys of his home in Crema, the ID card of the embassy and his daughter's photo.

«At least can I keep these?» he demanded showing them the smoking pipe and a matchbox. «You know, I become anxious if I cannot smoke.»

The two soldiers looked at each other, then the Sergeant called his commander at the gate, receiving a positive answer.

«All right, you can take them with you.» he said after having briefly controlled them.

«Thank you so much.»

Then, the two soldiers asked him to change his elegant suit and tie with a bulletproof vest and a voluminous helmet which made him almost unrecognizable.

«Sorry for the bulky outfit, but we need to pay attention. We're almost sure that the entire area is secretly controlled by foreign agents, and we cannot afford the risk of you being recognized.

«There's no problem.» Talleri smiled. «I was the Italian ambassador in Syria when the war erupted. I'm not alien to such things.»

Finally, the three men returned outside, getting on board of the military vehicle and leaving the building.

«Prepare yourself, Mister Ambassador.» joked the Sergeant. «It will be a true spectacle.»

«I'm sure of it.»

They needed just a couple of minutes to reach the gate, stopping briefly in front of the final checking point.

«Permission granted.» said the guarding soldier. «Have a nice trip.»

«I'm sure we'll have it.» the Sergeant replied.

At that point the dome opened, and the white, shiny gate appeared in front of Talleri, the first not-Japanese human that was about to cross it and visit the Special Region since its first appearance: or at least, that was what all of the not-Italian persons aware of that visit were thinking.

The jeep entered the gate, and after just a brief voyage in a darkness so thick that neither the vehicle's lights were able to pierce it, they found themselves right at the heart of the Japanese HQ at Alnus.

«It's been… incredible…» said a speechless Talleri.

After all, that was the first time for him crossing the gate, and even if he had seen like many others the few images released by the Japanese Government, being finally able to see the Special Region with his own eyes was absolutely outstanding.

The moment he got out of the car, a young Lieutenant in formal uniform reached him.

«Welcome to Alnus Camp, Mister Ambassador. I'm Lieutenant Yanagida. Nice to meet you.»

«My pleasure, Lieutenant.» Talleri answered. «You have settled really well I see.»

«We do what we can.» Yanagida said with a smile. «After all, this is still a warfare situation.»

«I suppose you're right. But I have to admit it, you've done an excellent work.»

«Thank you, Ambassador. Now please, come with me. General Hazama is waiting you.»

* * *

Yanagida then released the Ambassador from his bulky outfit, before leading him in the office of General Hazama, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese expedition in the Special Region, which welcomed him rising from his chair when the two men entered in the room.

«It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Ambassador.»

«Same for me, General. I heard of your efforts in leading this mission in the best way possible. And judging from the few things that I've seen until now, you're doing a really great job.»

«You honor me with these words, Sir. Obviously I cannot share classified information with you, but you can be sure that we have chosen the best of our armies to take part on this mission. And even if there's still much to do, we can be satisfied of the goals we've reached until this moment.»

Yanagida then left the two men alone, and Hazama and Talleri sat at the office's armchairs.

«They told me about what your country has done to protect my squad during the last month's crisis. I'm sure that many ones have already done it, but I too desire to deeply thank you for your efforts. Not to mention that you've avoided a serious diplomatic crisis with the Empire, you've also saved my guys involved in the girls' protection from being killed.»

«It's been an honor and a duty, General. Obviously we too have our own interests about the gate and this world, if not I wouldn't be here either. But differently from other people, we want to act very much above board, and that's the reason for which Italy has made the decision to cooperate in facing alongside you every other foreign attempt to interfere with your policy in the Special Region.»

«And I'm sure that Japan will not forget it, Mister Ambassador. And you'll be happy to know that your last actions provided you one more important friend besides us.»

«Sir…?»

General Hazama then used the interphone to call Yanagida, which returned a moment later with a cart full of exotic and expensive products, including a complete Imperial high armor, a sword, a painted wooden shield, some jewels, an entire set of golden plates and a small box filled with golden and silver coins.

«When we heard about Italy's contribution in facing the abduction attempt, we referred it to princess Pina. Her Majesty is incredibly grateful to your country for what you did, and this is a small sign of her appreciation. We'll send it to Rome when we'll be able to do it in safety.»

«I hope one day I'll have the occasion to personally thank Her Majesty for these gifts.» Talleri said looking at the cart. «But for now I would like to ask you to do it in my place, and my government's one.»

«I'll do it with pleasure. But now I suppose you want see the rest of the base, or not?»

«Well, if I can…» the Ambassador said with fake smile

In that moment someone else knocked at the door.

«I'm here, General.»

«Perfect timing. Come inside, Lieutenant.»

The door opened, and even if Talleri had never met that man personally he had no problems in recognize him.

«Lieutenant Itami reporting for duty.»

«Welcome, Lieutenant. I introduce you Mister Tassoni, the Italian ambassador in Tokyo. Ambassador, this is the Captain of the Third Recon Squad, First Lieutenant Itami Yoji.»

«It's a pleasure, Ambassador.» Itami said respectfully saluting him

«I already knew the Lieutenant, General Hazama. More or less like one or two billion other people in the world.»

«Please…» Itami smiled. «This is embarrassing…»

«I would be happy to guide you across the base by myself.» the General said. «But unfortunately I have an important conference with my officers in five minutes. Lieutenant Itami will help you visit both the base and the growing colony outside of the walls. Feel free to ask to him for everything.»

«The heroic winner of a Flame Dragon as my personal guide? I didn't think to be such an important person.»

«Please, don't exaggerate. I did nothing important…»

«Lieutenant Itami loves to belittle.» Hazama said again. «His work has been absolutely important in creating good relationships both with the natives and the Empire.»

«Thank you for your words, General.» then Itami turned toward Talleri. «So, mister Ambassador, if you want to follow me…»

* * *

Even if the ambassador's visit was necessary to remain a secret for a probably long period of time, and no proof of his presence in Alnus had to remain, General Hazama had requested for the base to be cleaned and prepared for Talleri's visit, then what the Ambassador saw during the first part of his visit was a clean, efficient and fully operative stronghold, heavily fortified and strong enough to face all kind of attacks by the Imperial forces or any other enemy out there.

Most of the base, like the hangars or the armory, was clearly off-limits, but despite this Itami was able to guarantee to his guest a fine and complete tour.

Tassoni in particular proved to be really impressed by the new airport, built right outside of the main wall, long enough to assure a safe take-off of a cargo plane and provided with three hangars, a control tower and a certain number of defensive positions.

«This is astonishing, Lieutenant.» he said while looking to the airport from the other side of the fence. «You made a great work, especially if we consider that you've reached this place barely a bunch of months ago.»

«Fortunately the Empire no longer attacked us after the first siege, and for this we've been able to proceed in creating our structures quickly and safely. At now we have enough power to counter any sort of attack they should try to launch against us.

Obviously I cannot tell you how strong our forces currently are, or what amount of power we're able to deploy, but you can assure your chiefs that the gate is completely impregnable.»

«I understand. And judging from what I've heard, it seems that your relations with some of the locals are going well, despite the not-so-friendly attitude of the Empire's higher ranks.»

«Well… let's say that there's been some… fortuitous circumstances. Obviously we didn't want to be considered an occupying force, so our primal mission was to appear as friendly as possible. The Flame Dragon's appearance and the Italica affair have given us the opportunity to prove that we had no hostile purposes, and thanks to this now many people have begun trusting us.»

«The Flame Dragon and Italica's siege.» Tassoni commented. «Both affairs where you and your squad have played a vital role, or not? Now I understand why they call you Hero, Lieutenant.»

«Please, I'm not a hero.» said an embarrassed Itami. «I'm just the guy that found himself at the wrong place at the wrong time.»

«Or maybe at the right place at the right time. Don't belittle yourself, Lieutenant.»

Itami knew that there were many people both in the base and on the other side of the gate who were not exactly happy about how things were going and the consequences that his way of acting had provoked to the mission, and for this to have met someone apparently so well-disposed with him, moreover a politician, was a thing that was making him really happy.

«Well, do you wanna visit the colonists' settlement now?»

«Of course. Show me the way.»


	19. Masks Thieves

_**Author's Notes**_

 _Hi again!^^_

 _This chapter has requested more time than expected, but fortunately in the last few days I had enough time to correct it._

 _I want to pay my best thanks to all the newcomers, for having favourited/followed this story, and even for their reviews: you're fantastic^^_

 _All right falks, the peace is over. The war is coming. Get prepared^^_

 _See you soon^^_

* * *

18

The small town of the colonists was for the bigger part still under construction, but despite this it was more than clear that it was about to become a flourishing and prosperous settlement.

Apart for the old barracks built by the JSDF, a Post Exchange and a circular building which clearly resembled a tavern, most of the houses were still far from being completed, but the works were progressing swiftly, and probably it was just a matter of time for that small city to become fully independent.

Talleri was speechless, but he remained even more astonished when he noted the relatively few Japanese troops in patrolling service around the town, while on the opposite there were a certain number of locals, especially demi-humans, wearing the black armband of the Military Police.

«Between the base and this community, there's already more work than what we're able to bear.» Itami answered when the Ambassador asked about this. «So we reached an agreement with the colonists: they administrate the city by themselves for the bigger part, and in exchange they can keep on living here even if they're not formally refugees. We host them at the barracks for the time they need to integrate, then, when we have proofs that they're not dangerous, they can live by their own.»

«It's almost incredible. And all this just thanks to a simple PX?»

«Well» Itami smiled. «Let's say that there are some important people of this world that have taken a certain interest in Japanese products. You know, silk, gadgets, and other things. Most of the colonists are merchants of other people involved in spreading such products, while the remaining ones are what usually make a town capable to live. There are hunters, carpenters, even mercenaries. Obviously we do what we can to keep the wrong people far from here, but as I said we're not enough to maintain a strong surveillance, so we leave the job to the colonists and the local guards.»

«I think I understand. You make use of the PX's earnings to fund your mission.»

«Or at least part of the costs.» replied the Lieutenant. «I mean, the Treasury's Department doesn't love us too much, the least we can do is to lower our burden on the taxpayers' pockets.»

Sometime later, while crossing the original barracks, the two men crossed the way with a young blonde elf that was giving welcome to a small group of new colonists together with a couple of young female soldiers, a tall and gentle medic with dark hair and eyes and a shorter, brown-haired Pfc.

«Master Itami.» said the elf

«Hi, Tuka.» Itami replied.

Even the two soldiers then turned.

«Good day, Lieutenant.» said the medic. «And good day to you, Mister…»

«Kuribayashi-chan, Kurokawa-chan. This is mister Enrico Talleri, the Italian ambassador in Japan. He's here to visit the base and this town.»

«The ambassador!?» Kurokawa said, and immediately she and Kuribayashi respectfully saluted him, much to Tuka's surprise. «Please excuse my rudeness, mister ambassador. I'm soldier Kurokawa Mari, of the Third Recon Squad.»

«And I'm Kuribayashi Shino, of the same team.»

«Don't worry, it's nothing. By the way, I heard about you and your squad from the former Prime Minister Motoi and Lieutenant Yanagida. It's a pleasure to meet you, soldiers.» then Talleri turned toward Tuka. «And obviously it's a pleasure to meet you too, lady Marceau.»

«You… know me?»

«Of course. Many people have seen your deposition at the DIETA, and judging from what I saw on the net, it seems that you've been particularly well-accepted by the media and the people. And now that I can see you personally, I don't have problems to imagine why.»

«T… thank you…» said the elven girl while blushing. «But I'm not so special…»

«Italians…» Kuribayashi commented

«Alright girls, I take the ambassador to visit the rest of the town. You two finish with those refugees then come back to base. Tomita needs some help with writing the reports of the last mission.»

Itami and Talleri then headed back toward the plaza, but suddenly they found themselves right in the heart of some sort of brawl involving a group of imperial soldiers, but more probably just mercenaries, and some other people that judging from their vests and the accent were from the Elbe kingdom.

«We don't want imperial scum here!» shouted the most agitated among the Elbians, a middle-aged man, wielding a woodcutting axe against the soldiers. «Get out of here!»

«Who you think you are?» a soldier replied. «You're just an Elbian insect.»

«Shut up! You're just a mass of bastards! It's your fault that thousands of us have been massacred here!»

«We have nothing to do with that! If you're searching for someone to blame, look at the JSDF. They killed your men, not us!»

«The JSDF did nothing but defend themselves! You're the ones who have sent us here! You knew from the beginning that this was a hopeless battle, but you still sent our guys here to get killed! I lost my son that day!»

«We are just soldiers, old man, not Generals or Senators! And I too lost someone in this cursed war. My brother has been killed on the other side of the gate!»

Itami was already at the point of taking out his gun and shooting in the air to prevent it from degenerating into a fight, when suddenly a young but firm female voice echoed in the entire road, silencing everyone.

«Please, stop this!»

Everyone turned to the voice, and a moment later a young girl with silver hair and white skin appeared among the crowd, reaching the fighters who silently looked at her. She was wielding a long baton, probably a magical scepter, and once again Talleri had no problems in recognizing her.

«Lelei.» said Itami.

«You will not solve anything just accusing each other in this way.»

«Noble Lelei…» said the old Elbian

«It's pointless to look at the past. What you were or what divisions you had before reaching this place, right now you're under the JSDF's jurisdiction, and you have to cooperate if you want to catch the opportunity that the JSDF have given you.»

«But… they're…» another Elbian tried to say

«What you were before reaching this place has no importance. The JSDF have opened the doors of this place to everyone, and this means that for them all divisions need to be overcome. If you can do it, you can stay, and demonstrate that you're able to create something new and better putting aside your differences. If not, than leave.»

The mercenaries at that point apparently calmed, and so the Elbians, but in their leader's eyes on the opposite there was still the fire of desperation.

«My son… I… I cannot forgive them!» and he rushed against one of the mercenaries rising up the weapon.

Everything happened incredibly quickly, so that neither Itami nor some of the MPs arrived in meantime had enough time to answer: a shadow appeared from the sky, jumping down directly in front of the Elbian, who fell to the ground before noting it when the newcomer violently hit him in the belly with her giant axe.

«N… Noble Rory…» the old man mourned recognizing the young pre-teen goth girl in front of him.

«Let's put an end to all this.» said the girl. «What's the sense in searching revenge for someone that is deep buried already? There's no act or murder that could take your son back from my Lord's land, and the sooner you'll understand it, the better you'll feel.» then she malignantly smiled. «And after all, as my friend has said, this land now belongs to the JSDF. And their law says that fights are forbidden in this town. However, if you're in search for a fight, as member of their guards I suppose I can grant your wish by my own.»

That was a battle simply impossible to win, so at the end the old man left sustained by his friends, and at that point the crowd dispersed.

«Yo, Itami.» Rory said when the two men approached

«Thanks girls, you spared us a big trouble.»

«Good day, Master Itami.» said Lelei.

Then, the silver-haired girl approached Talleri, directly looking at him in a strange and enigmatic way.

«You don't seem Japanese, sir. But still, you seem an important person, am I right?»

«What… what makes you think so?»

«Master Itami treats you with big respect, and your Japanese is unnatural, but fluent. Something like me.»

«Oh, you overestimate me.» Talleri replied. «I'm absolutely nothing to compare myself with the talented young mage that has helped more than anyone else among the Special Region's locals in creating all this.» then he turned to Rory, respectfully saluting her. «And of course, neither with the Apostle of God that has been able to silence the entire Dieta with just a brief speech.»

«You know your place.» answered a malicious Rory. «And maybe you're even smarter than you look. Are you really a politician?»

«I am, but at the same time I'm not.»

«Mister Talleri is an ambassador from another nation of our world, named Italy.» Itami explained. «His Country has helped us in protecting you from other nations during your last visit in Japan.»

«Really? In this case, I suppose we should thank him.»

«Thank you so much.» Lelei said after a brief silence.

Rory at the opposite went even more close to the ambassador, smiling in a sinister way.

«But I can see something in your eyes, my gentle ambassador. I see… a shadow. Maybe there's something in your soul that could create you some problems if we were to find it out?»

A brief moment of silence followed, and Itami was all but happy of the strange light that was appearing in Rory's eyes.

«Well…» Talleri said with no apparent hesitation. «After all, as you said, I'm even a politician. And I still have to meet a politician without some dark and dirty secrets in his heart.»

At that point, Rory smiled in satisfaction, joyfully hitting Talleri's belly with a small and innocent punch.

«You're really smarter than I thought, young mortal. You're right. Everyone has their secrets, after all. And even if I have no problems with the God of the Secrets Plessinth, I have not the misfortune of being his apostle.» then she turned to Itami. «Itami, why don't you and your friend join us for a beer? We were just going to the tavern.»

«I fear this is not a good idea. The ambassador has to return back on Earth, and I have a bit of work to do. Maybe next time.»

«All right.» Rory chitchatted

«It's been an honor, Mister Ambassador.» Lelei said

«Same for me, Miss Lelei. I hope we'll meet again soon enough.»

Then the two girls left, but before that Itami and Talleri were able to turn their backs and head back to the base, someone arrived from behind them and hit the ambassador, throwing him ashore.

«Mister Ambassador» Itami said helping him to get up. «Are you hurt?»

«It's nothing.»

«I'm sorry sir, I haven't done it on purpose.» said a massive and lout voice behind them.

Talleri turned, finding himself face to face, or face to belly, with a massive, red-skinned giant, not less than eight feet tall, which was carrying three enormous wooden bars on his shoulder as nothing.

«Uoh.»

«Don't worry, Mister Ambassador.» Itami said. «This is a friend. Name's Unar, he's a Red Orc from the northern mountains. His help has been really precious till now in building most of the colony.»

«Again, my apologies.» the giant being said. «I was stumbling, so I lost my balance and…»

«Don't worry, it was nothing. It happens sometimes.»

«If I can, you don't seem one of the Green People. Are you from the other side of the gate too?»

«In fact, I'm not Japanese. I'm Italian.»

«Italian, uh? All the People of your world have such strange names?»

«He's an Ambassador from another nation, Unar. A friend of… the Green People.»

The giant remained silent for a moment, then he held out his hand with a smile.

«Well, in this case… if you're a friend of the Green People, you're mine friend too. It's an honor to meet you, mister Ambassador.»

«Same for me.»

Talleri and Unar than shook hands, but Itami was busy with recovering his hat from the ground for noting that in the same moment there had been the fast passage of a tiny piece of paper from the orc to the Ambassador.

«Now I have to return to my work. Sorry again, Master Talleri. See you later, Master Itami.»

«Don't overwork, my friend.» Itami said. «Well, Mister Ambassador. I suppose that this is the end of our journey.»

«I agree, lieutenant. Let's go back to the base.»

* * *

Talleri and Itami at that point returned to Alnus, where the same jeep was ready to take the Ambassador back to Earth.

«It's been an honor to host you here, mister Ambassador.» Yanagida said. «Unfortunately the General is still occupied with his meeting, but he grants you his best wishes.»

«Tell him that I've really appreciated his willingness. And your one too, Lieutenant Yanagida and Lieutenant Itami.»

«It's been an honor, mister Ambassador.» Itami replied. «But next time we'll come back on Tokyo, please let us pay you a visit. You know, I spoke to Rory and the others about your fabulous cuisine, and they're really anxious to taste it.»

«Itami, watch your mouth.» said an embarrassed Yanagida.

«Don't worry, Lieutenant Yanagida.» Talleri smiled. «Of course, Lieutenant Itami. Next time your friends will visit our world, pay me a visit. I'll make prepare our best dishes.»

«I count on it, mister Ambassador.»

Then the Ambassador headed to the jeep, but before he could wear the helmet and the jacket once again, the two soldiers stopped him.

«I'm sorry mister Ambassador, we have to frisk you.»

«What!? Why!?»

«These are the orders, sir. We must be sure that you're not taking something of this world to the other side.»

The ambassador hesitated, as if there was something freaking him, but right when he was ready to empty his pockets once again a voice came from his back.

«Don't you think this is a bit enough, guys?» said Itami. «Come on, he's the ambassador of Italy. And he's been with me all time. He took nothing, you have my word.»

«Lieutenant…» Talleri said.

The two soldiers talked to each other for a moment, and then they both agreed to trust Itami's word.

«All right, mister Ambassador. We spare you from this unnecessary formality. You can get in the car.»

«Thank you, Soldiers. And thanks to you, Lieutenant.»

«Oh, that was nothing. Have a nice journey, Ambassador. And since it's the right time to say it… Merry Christmas.»

Talleri then got aboard the jeep, but the two soldiers immediately left him alone.

«We have to recover the travel pass from the storehouse. Please wait for us here aboard.»

«No problem, I wait for you.» he said before showing them the pipe. «May I…»

«Of course.» the Sergeant smiled. «We too are smokers.»

Then the two soldiers left, and Talleri remained alone aboard of the vehicle. At that point, after a brief and fast glance all around, he took from the pocket the small piece of paper he had received from the orc shortly before, reading it.

 _Sadera/Italica/Alnus_

 _Squadre di sorveglianza e sabotaggio allestite e pronte._

 _Restiamo in attesa._

 _(Sadera/Italica/Alnus_

 _Surveillance and Sabotage units settled and ready._

 _We stay in alert)_

Talleri smiled in satisfaction.

Those poor Japanese.

They couldn't even imagine that some of the colonists they had so kindly accepted in their territory were something more than merchants, farmers and woodcutters.

In fact, immediately after having reached the first agreements with the tribes around Castria, one of the first commands from Rome had been to send some of them southwards as Italian spies among the Imperials and the same Japanese.

Most of them were humans, and a certain number of them, the leaders, were actually undercover soldiers, but there was even a certain number of demi-humans, and even if the orders were to go as close as possible to Alnus in particular, the fact that they had been able to take root inside the same colonists' settlement was far beyond even the most optimistic previsions.

The Ambassador immediately crumpled the sheet and pushed it inside the pipe, lighting it and dispersing a grey smoke out of the window; not far from him, Itami was talking to Yanagida, and noting that Talleri was watching him he respectfully saluted.

«Merry Christmas, fools.»

A couple of minutes later the car left, disappearing inside of the gate.

«Strange.» Itami said

«What?» asked Yanagida

«I don't know, it's… an impression. As if there's something wrong…*» but at the end he returned to be the same Itami as always. «Well, I don't think it matters.»

* * *

Even if they were in another world, for Lunardi and most of his squad Christmas was still an event to celebrate.

So, when December 25 finally arrived, taking advantage of the fine weather, Falcon-1 was ready to celebrate Christmas the best they could.

The wooden table inside the tower's main room was already set, and from the kitchen the most pleasurable smell was helping the soldiers relieve the sorrow of a Christmas so far from their homes.

At eleven o'clock, in front of the same altar used for the commemoration of the Captain's father, a Christmas dinner was in program in front of the tower, but Lunardi and the others remained completely speechless when some minutes before the ceremony a small crowd of Calibrians reached the "church" asking to assist.

«Well…» Cassetti said with a stupid smile. «Maybe my sermons made me gain some… followers.»

«Guys, we have the new St. Francis here!» said an ironic Rizzoli.

At the end it became necessary to move into a close square in order to gain enough space for all those people, and seeing so many persons taking part in the ceremony in a so far place was strange, but almost romantic.

«It's so… frustrating.» Tymlin said while the eating was beginning. «He conquered more followers in one week than I did in three years.»

«Cassetti has always been a strange guy.» Stefanini commented. «He's a pedantic and sometimes truly unsupportable son of a bitch, but his faith is pure. And all these people prove it.»

«By the way, what kind of celebration is this? Cassetti spoke about an… apostle.»

«He really used this word!?» replied an amused Valenti. «Well, let's say that this is the day when we celebrate the birth of the Lord of our religion.»

«Oh, you mean that… Jesus, right?»

«Exactly. It's the most important day for all Christians. It's a day one should spend with its family and relatives, but since we're here, we tried our best to make it as special as we can.»

The ceremony was simply but really beautiful, and at a certain point even the King and his court appeared in the square, more out of curiosity, spending some time to listen to Cassetti's words before leaving again.

So, after eating, the simple lunch for a small team of soldiers turned into some sort of festival, with so many people that it was just for some rich guests' charity if at the end it became possible to fill the table in front of the tower with all sort of things, from meat to vegetables, from pasta to fish; even a lot of non-Christians joined the party, like Niang, Wang and some other inhabitants: after all, all excuses were good for a fine lunch.

«That's not what I was thinking at the beginning…» Lunardi said looking around. «But we could say that it's even better.» so he called for a cheer. «So… Buon Natale.»

«Buon Natale!» everyone answered, even the Calibrians.

* * *

For dessert, Brugnoni wanted to make a simple fruit salad, but given the situation there was need of much more fruit for all these people, so he sent Tassoni to the market to provide apples, strawberries, apricots and other local fruits.

While he was about to come back after having filled the wheelbarrow, he noted a series of shouts coming from a tiny road, and the moment he recognized a familiar voice he instinctively headed there. When he arrived, he saw Parna holding a bag of vegetables and surrounded by a trio of drunken, very aggressive men.

«Come on, girl! Let's enjoy ourselves!» said one of them, certainly the ugliest one.

«Get out of my way, Hieros.» Parna replied. «I'm still waiting for my pay for the last time.»

«Oh, come on, just this once. You know I'll pay you.»

«With what? You really think I'm stupid? I heard the news about you. They say you've been kicked off the City Guards when they found you completely drunken three times in three days. How do you think you can pay me, with your stinky sweat? Now let me go, my dinner is waiting.»

Parna then tried to leave, but Hieros violently grabbed her wrist, making her drop the bag.

«Maybe you don't understand rabbit-girl. I'm not asking you, I'm commanding you.»

«Let me go, you pig!»

With outstanding easiness Parna glided behind him, turning his arm behind his back so violently that despite he was three times that girl Hiros screamed in pain, then with a single kick Parna sent him to eat mud on the ground.

Then the other two men attacked, and Parna managed to face just one of them kicking him right to the nose, but at the end the other one successfully managed to catch her, grabbing her tightly while Hiros started to hit her more and more with kicks, punches and slaps.

«So? So? You like it, you shitty bitch? Now I'll teach you to stay at your place!»

He was about to perform a devastating punch right in her belly, when suddenly a small but incredibly strong young man appeared from nowhere, hitting Hiros with a tremendous punch that made him lose a couple of teeth.

«Let her go!» Tassoni shouted forcing the other two to let Parne free with two more punches.

Despite being alone against two, the young man managed to face them with not much difficulty, and in less than one minute they were both so battered that they were no more able to get up from the ground.

«You, little brat.» Hiros said full of anger taking out his war knife.

Scared of nothing, Tassoni faced him once again, and thanks to his professional training he was able to avoid a series of blows. Then, when Hiros tried yet another attack, the young man grabbed the arm wielding the knife, breaking it with just two hits all three joints, forcing Hiros to leave the weapon and making him experience the most devastating pain in his life.

«Go away. Now.»

At that point there were no more choices.

«I'll remember this!» Hiros said while retreating with his two minions.

When they finally left, Tassoni turned to look at Parna; she was in a very bad state, but despite all those injuries she didn't seem to feel the pain.

«Are you all right?»

* * *

*The custom of shaking hands to introduce or seal an agreement doesn't exist in the Special Region, and since it's not very common even between the Japanese, it was quite unlikely for Unas to know it.


	20. The Rule of Suspicion

**_Author's Notes_**

 _Finally I'm back!^_^_

 _Sorry if I remained silent for so much time, but this last April has been truly horrible. Despite Easter and 2 different holidays, each single time something occurred to stop me from writing. Plus this, the following chapter has been really difficoult: I love to describe wars and battles, but doing it with a different language from my own proved to be much more difficoult than expected._

 _I hope to have more time in the next weeks, but I promise you to publish the next chapter as soon as possible._

 _See you soon!^_^_

 _CJ Spencer_

* * *

19

«Where the hell have you been?» Brugnoni yelled when a panting Tassoni entered into the tower, immediately heading to the males' room. «And where's my fruit?»

«Sorry, there's no time. I'll explain later.»

«What, are you joking me? What's happen…» but before he could speak further Mama's boy had already left, taking with him bandages, patches and other first-aid stuff.

Then the young soldier came back to the small house above the baker's shop on the Sun Road, running like few other times and strangely worried; he was so agitated that when he finally reached the room he noisily stumbled on the fruit barrow right at the base of the stairs, exactly like when he left a bunch of minutes before.

«You cursed…» he rapidly swore before retracing his steps.

When he opened the door, he found Parna sat on the bed, angrily looking at the remains of the vegetables she had been able to recover after the assault, and apart for a couple of potatoes and a carrot, all other things were ready for the garbage.

«I'm back.» he said putting the case on the table and immediately beginning to prepare all necessary. «Just a moment.»

«I've told you it was not necessary.» the Warrior Bunny replied in a bothered way.

«We need to clean some of your wounds now, or they may become infected.»

«I'm fine. I faced far worse things than this, I can't be scared by an injured finger.»

«It will not take long, trust me.»

But the truth was that Parna was too occupied looking at her ruined dinner to pay the young soldier any attention.

«I spent the amount of three days of work to buy these veggies. That goddamn drunkard will pay for this, I'll bite his thing away next time I see him.»

A moment later Tassoni touched her cheek with a soaked piece of cotton, and the girl, despite her resistance, visibly protested trying to avoid contact.

«I know it burns, but it will pass quickly.»

Parna initially protested in her usual, colorful manner, but at the end she resigned to her fate and let the young soldier continue with his work.

«You're quite skillful.» Parna said at a certain point. «Are you some sort of medic?»

«I studied nursery before joining the Army. But my comrade Sgt. Valenti is far better than me.»

After having cleaned most of the injuries, Giulio put some bandages over the worse ones, but at the end the situation was not so bad as he expected.

«I'm quite surprised. The beating you took from those gorillas would have been a hard pain for anyone, but despite this you got away with just a couple of cracked ribs and some wounds.»

«We Warrior Bunnies have known nothing but war for centuries. We learn how to kill even before learning to walk. It takes more than three horny drunkards to scare or pierce bodies like our owns, forged in the blood and steel of thousands of battles.»

«I heard your story. You are a very skillful race in fighting.»

«They call us the Daughters of Emroy. The battlefield is our home. Or at least there was a time when it was like this. Now we're nothing more than stinky farmers, obedient sex-toys, or… whores.»

Parna curled her lips in a rueful smile, and a sad silence filled the room.

«That's it.» he said while putting the last patch he had. «Just try to avoid straining for some days and you should feel better really soon.»

«Avoid straining you said? Did you forget what my work is already? If I don't work, I cannot eat, and if I cannot eat, I don't have enough energy to work.»

«If the problem is food, I can provide it for you.»

«I don't want your charity. I can take care of myself.»

«It's not charity.» Giulio replied in an unusual, determined tone «Why you do such things? This time you've been lucky, but next time you may be killed.»

«Don't worry. As I said, I can take care of myself. I have no need of a tiny, floppy-cock mama's boy as my bodyguard.»

At that point Tassoni had no choice but to surrender, and after having recovered his things he tried to leave.

«Wait a moment.» Parna suddenly said. «Don't you want your payment?»

The moment Giulio turned, he almost get a stroke: once again, the girl was in front of him in all her beauty, but this time she was completely naked, and there was no bandage, scar or wound able to hide or diminish her gorgeous curves.

«But since I have no money or other things with me, I suppose this is the best I can do. And if I remember correctly, last time you payed for nothing.»

Tassoni was completely speechless and unable to move a finger in front of such a wonderful sight, but once again, after a brief but still endless moment of loss he returned to himself; however this time, instead of simply running away, he firmly recovered Parna's tunic from the ground, asking her to put it.

« I just told you to rest. I don't need a payment. And not this kind of payment, especially.»

Parna in her heart was aware that it could end up in that way, but despite this she still remained stunned by the young soldier's behavior.

«It's incredible.» she smiled partially covering herself, but paying a lot of attention in assuring that most of the right places were still clearly exposed. «I thought to be the best one in exciting men, but you sure are the most stubborn I ever met. Don't tell me you prefer other men's company.»

«What!? No!» Tassoni replied as red as a pepper.

«And so? Why don't you want to make love with me? Your partners in the tower were not as timid as you, not at all. On contrary, some of them were among the best lovers I ever had. I'm sure you can perfectly match them with no problems.»

«That's not the point. I don't like… this sort of things.»

«Do you have problems with my work?»

«It's not a problem. But I have… a certain way of thinking. I think that this sort of things should happen only if there's love. If not, I find it… strange.»

Parna remained speechless for a moment, then she loudly laughed.

«You're surely the strangest guy I've ever seen. Who in the world would speak of love in front of a whore?»

«That's all you are for true?» Tassoni asked in a serious tone. «A whore?»

Apparently touched to the heart by those words, Parna immediately stopped laughing, changing her amused expression with a darker, depressed one.

«I was something different, a long time ago. I was part of the Algkin tribe, and since birth I've been raised to become one of our Queen Tyuule's personal guards. But when our town has been put under siege, the same queen I had sworn to serve, sold us to the Empire in exchange for her life. I've seen hundreds of my friends raped to death or taken to become sex-slaves like animals, that it was how the Imperials have always seen us.»

«I… I'm sorry…» Tassoni said with mortification. «I didn't want to…»

«You're a soldier. You should well know this kind of stories.»

«No… well… I… I could never do such things. This is not the way my country uses to wage war.»

Parna turned to him, and smiled.

«I could almost believe you. Anyway, I managed to avoid that fate, and together with a couple of friends I spent the following two years in search of a way to make that bitchy queen pay for her betrayal. We were ready to die for her, and even like this she has thrown us away like junk just to become Prince Zorzal's personal puppet.

But soon I understood that I was not so strong like Delilah and Griine. I was too young, too naïve to face that life. So, I surrendered, and I offered myself to become the same thing the Imperials wanted to turn me into.»

«Have you… sold yourself to the Empire!?»

«No. Just to a fucking brothel in the capital's suburra. That's what I had become. Nothing more than a whore in a stinky rats' nest.»

A strange and cold wind blow entered from the opened window, almost like a sinister and obscure omen.

«One day, one of those bastards clubbed me so strong that he almost killed me, only because he thought that I had not satisfied his urges enough. Then, I made my decision. If being a whore was my fate, I would have done it just on my conditions. I killed that scum, and with the money I found on him I returned to these places, no more as a warrior bunny, but only as a bitch in search of a way to live. But once again, and for the first time in years, I felt like I had the power to decide my own fate. And I felt really well.

So, if you ask me if I'm happy of my present life, the answer is yes, I am. So, don't have pity of me, because you have no need, and not even me.»

Suddenly, a bell's tolling echoed in the whole city, followed by countless others.

«It's the alarm.» Parna said recognizing it. «What's happening?»

* * *

Hearing it, all Calibrians felt a shot to the heart, turning all together toward the highest tower where the giant bell was placed; even the king, Wise Pharmenon and General Aristhes heard hit, but when they run to the closest window, thanks to the high position of the palace and the school, they immediately noted the reason for the alarm, and so the darkest fear appeared in their eyes.

A high and massive cloud of dust had suddenly arisen from the dusty ground, right behind Hardys's Throne, followed by sinister sounds of march, drums and clanging; then, while the entire city fell in a deathly silence, an endless, terrifying wave of soldiers in dark and menacing armors appeared from the other side of the hill, far more than any soldier, general or old man in Calibria had ever seen in all his life.

«Captain, come up here now!» Amato shouted from the top of the tower.

Lunardi quickly reached him, and even before turning his eyes to the other side of the walls he was able to note the complete fear in his man's ones.

«Oh, my God…»

He grabbed the binoculars and pointed it against the approaching army, but with his well-trained senses of soldier and the fact of having already seen those uniforms he had no need to note the red banners wielded by each formation's flag carrier to find out where they came from.

«They're Reichians.»

They were strictly grouped in closed and squared formations, and each formation was made with soldiers all equipped in the same way: the first three lines were made of three legions of spearmen at each flank of each line, with twelve powerful groups of knights with rounded shields and broadswords at the center; behind them there was the light infantry, with shorter swords, ovoid shields and more simple armors, and even more behind the shooting troops, equally divided in bows, crossbows and war slings.

The cavalry was even more threatening; a part for the light cavalry made of five or six thousand doblirth-riders equipped with short skirmish lances, javelins and in some cases bows, there were more than ten-thousand members of the ancient Obold tribe riding their scary, giant, dark-fur war horses, so big and powerful to make the earth tremble under their enormous clogs.

And finally, in the fourth line, there were the gewehre-wielders, no more than two or three thousand; apart for the fire weapon, their equipment was a bit poor, made by a simple leather armor, a knife and a war belt filled with bullets, repair instruments and a little sack for the gunpowder.

And that was probably just the first line, because they were so many that it was impossible to see what was surely hiding behind the hills, but knowing Reich's way to fight Lunardi was sure that what was now in front of them was probably just one third of the enemy force's true dimensions.

When Aristhes and some of the others finally regained consciousness, one single shout echoed in the entire city.

«Alarm! The enemy! The Reichians are attacking us! All forces ready for battle!»

When Captain Heraclyus entered Aristhes's personal rooms, the General was almost at the point of finishing putting on his armor.

«General, Reich's army is…»

«Archers on the walls! Heavy infantry and the Immortals at the main door! Both your cavalry and the Royal Cavalry have to gather at the palace's ground yard! And call for the militia. I want every single man from sixteen to fifty years old able to fight equipped and ready in one hour. And give the order to close all doors. The ones that will not be inside of the city in ten minutes will be left behind, with no exceptions.»

«Yes General!»

In less than five minutes all of the city's archers were already on top of the walls and the towers, while the recruits and soldiers under license regrouped at the barracks or the armories, and the civilians still outside of the city quickly reached the closest gates before being locked out, leaving behind, apart for the houses, even the animals and, in some cases, even their too old relatives, to not slow down their run to safety.

The same moment when the gates closed, a shout came from the enemy army.

«Company! Halte!» and all the fifty thousand and more soldiers stopped at the same moment, like one giant, single human body capable to hide the ground under a wave of black armors.

A couple of minutes later Aristhes too reached the walls, taking position not far from Falcon-1's tower, where, in the meantime, even Lunardi and his soldiers were completely astonished by what was happening right before them.

«What's going on here?» Stefanini asked. «What's Reich's army doing here?»

«And more than this, how the hell have they been able to cross Arlea?» Rocco asked

«What we do now, Captain?» Rizzoli demanded

But Lunardi had no answers, because he too was speechless, since such a possibility was far beyond all imagination, and he had no idea of what had to be done or how.

The archers and other defenders of the city were still taking their positions, and the cavalry had not reached the walls yet, when another shout came from the plains.

«Erste linie, attacke!»

The entire Reichian army yelled so loudly that the walls almost trembled, then their first line started advancing, running against the city in an all-out attack while covered by the cavalry archers.

«Archers ready!» General Symaras ordered

Most of the Plains' armies were equipped with the fearsome Antiochian Bow, probably the best bow of the world, far more powerful than the Lydran Bow used by the Imperial Army; it was mortally effective up to three hundred and thirty feet, but it was able to perform an accurate shot at almost five hundred feet, and the arrows, the tip of which was made of a special obsidian that was extracted from the scales of the local wyverns, were able to pierce even the thickest armor.

By order of their General, the city's archers waited till when the enemies were no more than two hundred feet far from the walls, then they fired, covering the sun behind a shroud of arrows.

«Aim the siege stairs!» Aristhes shouted.

Most of Reich's heavy infantry used to wear a steel armor with some parts made of leather and knotted kit, and as an additional protection their wooden shields were covered in bronze and blessed with a magic ointment capable of rejecting some of the most used attack spells, but both of them were nothing compared to the powerful arrows of the Plains.

Almost three hundred enemies died before reaching the walls, and most of them were the ones wielding stairs and siege ropes, so at the end just a bunch of war instruments were raised.

«Don't let them reach the top of the walls! Repel them!»

Some of the archers then left their bows and took some long batons provided with a V at the end, using it to push the stairs away the moment they touched the walls, while other ones cut the ropes with their long knives.

The whole scene was followed at a distance by Reich's Generals, Donzark and Octavia, while riding their horses, but despite the fighting was really taking a big turn for the worse they were both incredibly calm. At their feet, Ludwika at the opposite was completely ignoring the battle, since she was too much occupied in looking at an endless procession of ants with an amused and curious glance.

«They've been fast.» Donzark malignantly smiled. «Well, this will be funnier than expected.»

When the battle moved right at the walls' edge, it became more difficult for the archers to aim carefully without risks, and the stairs trying to reach the top were becoming a bit too much.

In the meantime, Lunardi was still incapable of making a decision.

«Sir please, give us an order!» Stefanini asked once again. «What do we have to do?»

That was a goddamn unreal situation.

Theoretically they were still at war with Reich, but in that moment the Reichians were not attacking them directly, but a city with which they had no official relations or agreements.

The engagement rules were truly strict, but even incredibly ambiguous: according to Falcon Units' code, they were allowed to use brute force only if there was a true and serious dangerous situation and shooting was the sole option; but at the opposite the code also said that it was strictly forbidden to show their firepower and their advanced technology in public, nor interfere in situations that were not directly involving the Italians or some of the people with which there was a preexisting protection agreement.

Somehow Lunardi was sure that Reich had no idea of their presence in Calibria, so the attack was not directed against them; however, that was clearly a dangerous situation, but on the opposite their intervention was against the first rule of the code about being as much invisible as possible, not to mention that by intervening he and his men would interfere in a private affair between two people of the Special Region.

They were officially in a grey land, and he had no idea of what to do.

«To hell with the rules!» he finally said. «Rocco, battle stations! Everyone to the roof!»

«Yes, sir!»

But Rocco barely managed to reach the top of the stairs before the high loud of a war horn came from the enemy lines, and immediately all of the soldiers at the base of the walls immediately regrouped.

«Zurückgreifen!» the officers ordered. «Rückzug! Wiederherstellung reihen!»

And so the assaulting force retreated quickly but neatly, leaving behind no less than five hundred dead, but despite that apparent victory, for most of the Calibrians a simple look at the immense enemy army in the distance was enough to extinguish any desire to exult.

«They're leaving.» said Torrisi

For now, the city was safe. But for how long, no one knew.

How that first crisis passed, Lunardi immediately ordered to call Castria by radio, but as he expected after more than three hours spent in searching a contact, and despite the high antenna placed on the roof of the tower, all efforts proved to be in vain.

«Come in, Castria.» Amato tried for the umpteenth time. «This is Falcon-1 Exploration Unit. ID six-zero-six-nine-one. Do you hear me? Castria, this is Falcon-1. If you hear me, please answer. This is an emergency.» but at the end he ruefully looked at Lunardi. «Nothing, sir. There's no signal.»

«That goddamn forest. We have to warn them. If they've been able to reach the plains, this means that Castria is completely surrounded.»

«And even if they too are under attack right now?» Valenti asked in fear

«No, this is impossible.» Rocco commented turning to the enemy army that was setting camp a couple of miles from the walls. «Did you see them? If we count the losses they faced when they attacked Castria for the first time, they must have collected every single man in their dominion to create such a monstrous attack force.»

«But how did they manage to move so many soldiers till here without Castria noticing them?»

«They probably did.» Torrisi tried to be optimistic «But they had not been able to warn us due to the radio problems.»

«I exclude it.» said a skeptical Lunardi. «If they had noticed them, they would do everything to warn us, even at the cost of sending another Falcon unit or a helicopter.»

«Which means that we're like trapped mice.» but when Rocco turned for the second time, he saw something that totally scared him. «What the…»

He immediately took the binoculars from the table and looked in the same direction, and noting his fear Lunardi reached him.

«What's going on?»

«Please sir.» the soldiers said giving him the binoculars and pointing toward Hardy's Throne. «Tell me they're not what I think they are.»

Lunardi watched too, but soon his glance became the same of his second in command, if not worse.

«We have to warn the king.»

* * *

«I swear to Emroy almighty that I'll boil them all like the pigs they are!» king Deiphobos shouted while trying to relieve some of his rage with his favorite anti-stress, i.e. brutally flogging a poor slave leaning against one of room's columns.

The rest of the council remained silent till the king, completely exhausted, stopped, sitting on the stairs to catch some breath.

«Is… is this enough, My Lord?» the slave asked with his back completely covered in wounds and blood

«Yes, you can go.» he said, but the other two slaves had to help him, so all three left the room. «By the way, someone here has to explain me how the hell has been possible for an entire army to arrive right under my walls undetected!»

«They must have taken secondary routes, marching during the night to avoid detection by our scouts.» Phyleos tried to answer. «Most of my patrols are still out there, but probably some of them have been killed.

«Unfortunately» said Aristhes. «Even Reich has some good scouts and mages. They proved it to us last time by hiding so well their camp.»

«But why are they doing this?» asked Heraclyus. «Why accept our terms and cover us in gold and jewels just to attack us?»

«Is it not clear?» replied an enraged Kleytos. «To make us lower our guard! They made us smell their shitty fake promises while at the same time they were already preparing their attack against us!»

«What's the state of our resources?» Pharmenon questioned

«There's been a certain squandering due to the festivities» Aristhes replied. «But the granaries are still almost full, and so the three wells inside of the city. If we lock all of them and the weather will be our friend, we should be able to sustain a long siege.»

«And the army?» asked Deiphobos

«I gave order to enroll every single man in the militia, from sixteen to fifty years old. Only the essential workers, like blacksmiths and gunsmiths, have been exempted, end even some women are volunteering for service as archers and nurses. Even if they're not expert soldiers, I trust we could count over no less than thirty thousand soldiers.»

«And the enemy has already lost a couple of thousands of their own just in this first assault.» Dyomedes commented. «Don't worry my King, our city will not fall.»

«I fear it's not so.»

The doors suddenly opened, and Lunardi appeared in the room together with Sadee and Rocco, being gazed at in disbelief by the entire council.

«I'm sorry my lords.» the guard tried to explain. «I tried to stop them, but they insisted they needed to talk to you.»

«Sorry if I came without notice, King Deiphobos, but there's something that you all have to see.»

«You!» said an enraged Kleytos menacingly walking toward them. «It's your fault!»

«What are you saying, Kleytos?» Aristhes replied.

«Don't you understand? They discovered that they're here! The Singing People and Reich are at war even now! And now they think that we're allied with them!»

«Kleytos, you lost your mind.»

But the faces of some of the Generals said that two or three of them, if not agreed, had in truth some doubts that Kleytos' opinion was completely wrong.

«General Aristhes is right, this is highly improbable.» Sadee answered

«How can you be so sure?»

«This was a first-class mission.» Lunardi answered. «Even most of my fellows in Castria know nothing about it. Apart for my commander, my men, and you gentlemen, all other people aware of our presence here in Calibria are on the other side of the gate.»

«Can you say it for sure?» Pharmenon said without prejudice.

«Absolutely. We know how to keep our secrets. Castria is completely free from Reich's spies, and none of their scouts has seen us during the trip.

But this is not the time for this.»

«You said you had something to tell us.» Aristhes said. «You have already fought against their army. Do you think we have some chance of winning?»

«If what I fear is true, I'm sorry to say that Calibria will probably fall before the day after tomorrow.»

«But we have repelled their first attack without great problems.»

«That's their usual war tactic. They call it _blitzkrieg_. They launch a sudden and violent attack the moment they reach their target hoping to find an unprepared surveillance. If the enemy resists, they use this first assault to test your force and prepare the next moves.»

«How can you be so confident with those barbarians, General Aristhes?» Kleytos protested

«Come on, you all know what they're capable of. This is not the time for arrogance or pride. And they've been the sole ones to defeat Reich in seventy years. If there's someone that can help us in such situation, they are them.»

The other Generals then silenced, and Kleytos, being alone, did the same.

«So, why do you think that Calibria is still condemned?»

«Because of this.»

Lunardi then gave to Aristhes the prints he had with him, representing an incredibly detailed image of the enemy lines.

«What the…» Phyleos commented in disbelief. «They're perfect.»

«They're photos. We made them from the top of our tower.»

Most of the images were focused around the strange movement around Hardy's Throne. The hill was in course of being fortified with wooden poles, and on the top of it there were a certain number of massive steel cylinders placed above some sort of wheelchairs; they were long and narrow, with a hole at the end, and all the holes were apparently pointed toward the city.

«What are those?»

«The Reichians call them drachenmünder. But we call them… siege cannons.»


	21. Stat Sua Cuique Dies

**_Author's Notes_**

 _Hi to everyone^^_

 _I'm sorry for the silence, and this is all I can say. There's been quite difficoult problems, so I had very few time to write. By the way I'm back, and even if this chapter is a bit shorter if compared to other ones, trust me: it will be really compelling._

 _Many thanks to the new followers and reviewers._

 _See you soon!^_^_

* * *

20

«Siege cannons?» Aristhes repeated. «It doesn't sound too good.»

«What are they exactly?» asked Pharmenon.

«You can imagine them like a far bigger and powerful version of the gewehre. They make use of gunpowder and giant bronze spheres. Once fired, they're able to destroy all kind of fortifications, and since they have a really long range they can fire from a safe position, without any hope for us to stop them.»

«What kind of damages could we take?» Aristhes asked as if he didn't want to know the answer

«They've already used against us when they attacked Castria, so we know what they're capable of. Just a couple of those cannons would be enough to open a ten meter large hole in the walls…» then Lunardi stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath. «And in this case they brought twelve.»

The generals remained silent, ruefully looking at the ground: somehow they knew their new friend who came from another world was speaking the true.

«And is… there nothing we can do?» Heraclyus

«Not from here. Even if we were to possess weapons capable of reaching them, they're too big and thick to be destroyed just with mere bullets.»

«You still have your vehicles.» said Aristhes. «You can return to Castria and seek help from your companions.»

«General Aristhes, they're barbarians from another world! We cannot trust them!»

«Kleytos, shut up your foolish pride and accept truth!» Aristhes exploded. «This is not a war we can win all alone!»

«General Aristhes is right.» Anthelea said «We all know what Reich is capable of. The Singing People have been the sole ones to defeat them, and they had to use all of their superior technology to do it. If we want to stand a chance, we have to trust Captain Lunardi and what he says.»

«Unfortunately, Generals, there's no time for this.»

«What!?» some of them said

«Even going at maximum speed, reaching Castria and returning with reinforcements would take no less than ten days.»

«Not to mention that most probably all passes are already blocked due to the winter.» Sadee added.

«And so… is there really nothing we can do?»

«Our companions are building a communication system. It should be ready soon, and so we'll be able to call Castria and warn them of the situation. But till that moment, we are on our own.»

«How?» the king demanded

Lunardi hesitated, then he kept on talking.

«We have a plan. The cannons are still being assembled, and since they're quite inaccurate weapons, they'll probably wait tomorrow morning to attack. This way their soldiers will also be able to rest.»

«Which means that if we were to destroy those cannons, we have to do it this night.» Heraclyus commented. «But how can we do that if they're far beyond our reach?»

«We have a plan. Our long-range weapons are as much ineffective as yours against those cannons, but we have some explosives with us. If you're ready to accept our help, we can reach Hardy's Throne and blow 'em up.»

«This would be a suicide!» said Phyleos. «There's an entire army all around the hill, you could never reach it.»

«We'll act during the night. Our technology allows us to fully operate in darkness, we can reach the cannons, place the explosives and come back to the city long even before they can find out that we were there.»

Aristhes and all other Generals looked each other, but at the end they hesitantly agreed with Lunardi's idea.

«Can you really do it?» the King asked

«We can.»

«Then do it. You have my authorization. It's time for you to show me your superior power. And you have my word that if you'll really be able to protect my city, you'll have gained one important ally in this world.»

«Thank you, Your Majesty. I'll lead this mission personally.» then Lunardi and his two companions left the hall.

* * *

Before heading to the palace, Lunardi had ordered the rest of the squad to regroup and take inventory of their weapons and ammunitions, so when he, Rocco and Sadee returned to the tower they found the table of the kitchen and the floor around it filled with rifles, rocket-launchers and any sort of bullet.

At first sight one could have thought that was far more than necessary, but the truth was completely different.

«And that's all.» said a rueful Rizzoli. «Ten kilos of C4 with two remote controls, eight light mortars with five shots each, twelve anti-tank missiles for our three rocket-launchers, two long-range sniper rifles, one anti-material sniper rifle with explosive and normal bullets, and a certain number of light weapons between guns and assault rifles.»

«Ammunition?»

«More or less three thousand bullets.»

«Which means less than ten loaders per person. And the vehicles?»

«More or less eight thousand cartridges equally divided between all of the three Browning.»

Usually a common Falcon unit was provided with heavier equipment, especially if their task forced them to operate far from Castria for a long time, but since this time the destination was supposed to be a safe and secure one, high command preferred to avoid unnecessary waste of resources, even considering that supplies from Earth were becoming poorer and more difficult to obtain.

«We'll make do.» shortly said Lunardi, then he immediately started preparing extra loaders.

Rizzoli silently remained to look him for a while, and even if he had never questioned his commander's orders in his soldier life, for the first time he felt the impulse to say his thoughts loudly.

«If I can, sir…»

«Speak.» Lunardi replied without taking a break from working

«This is not our war. Probably they don't know that we're here either, and the city is not completely surrounded. We could leave at night, and wait somewhere far from here until the passes will be free to cross.»

«Considering the kind of arsenal they took with them, it's obvious that Reich aims to completely obliterate this city, together with its library. Orders are clear. The expectations for this mission are incredibly high, and failing is not an option.»

«But, sir…»

«And that's not all. When the most powerful city of the Plains will fall, because it will fall for sure, Reich will be in total control of this region, which means that Castria will find itself completely surrounded.» then Lunardi inserted the last filled loader in his rifle and turned to severely look into Rizzoli's eyes. «This is our war, Salvo. Now call the briefing.»

«Y… yes sir.»

* * *

Soon after the entire squad was regrouped in front of the blackboard where all photos of the target had been attached, together with a hand-made map of the surrounding area.

Aristhes and two other Generals were present, and finding themselves face to face for the first time with the incredible equipment of the newcomers they remained completely speechless.

«All right folks, let's begin.» Lunardi said calling silence. «The city is officially under siege, and as some of you already know, Reich's army has prepared a fire point above the hill known as Hardy's Throne. Just a couple of shots will be more than enough to wipe away the walls, and since none of the Calibrians' weapons is powerful enough to destroy them, we'll have to do the work for them.»

«What kind of approach could we use, Captain?» Amato asked after a brief moment of general surprise.

«The only one possible. This night, when most of the enemies will probably be asleep, we'll reach the cannons and place some explosives, then we'll come back to the city and we'll blow them up using a remote trigger.»

«If I can Captain, it's a long walk between the walls and the hill, and surely there will be a lot of sentinels.»

«Rizzoli and Torrisi will cover us from the top of the tower. They'll clean the way of scouts before we advance. Most of the enemy camp is located behind the hill, and there are relatively few tents around it, so we should be able to approach it safely. The Reichians have built a palisade around the cannons, and in doing this they made us a favor: when we'll have neutralized the guards, no one will see us while we place the explosives.

We'll enter in the area from this point, the holes in the palisade for the cannons.»

«The cannons will be surveilled for sure.» Cassetti objected. «And there will be a lot of torches and fires. The risk of being spotted is quite high.»

«Judging from the clouds approaching from south, this will be a moonless night. By the way, we'll be in contact with the sentinels in the tower. They'll be our eyes on the battlefield all the time. The squad will have five people. I'll lead it personally. Rocco!»

«Sir?»

«You'll be in command here in the tower.»

«Yes, sir.»

«Rizzoli and Niang. You'll be the snipers.»

«Of course, sir.» Cassetti replied

«Torrisi and Stefanini, spotters.»

«Yes, sir.» the two said together

«What about the squad, sir?» Wang demanded.

«Argento, Boldi, Valenti and Cassetti will come with me.»

Walter, Argento, Pietro Boldi and Cassetti were all part of the Col Moschin paratroopers division, some of the best and well trained soldiers in incursion tasks. Considering the kind of mission there was real need for a medic for all kind of first aid needs.

«Very well, guys. You have your orders. Prepare yourselves. Mission begins at 2am. Sempre pronti!»

«In questo e in ogni mondo!**» everyone repeated shouting the motto of the Falcon units.

* * *

In the deep darkness of the Plains' night, a Reichian sentinel was mounting guard close to Calibria's main doors, well hidden behind a rock two hundred meters far from the walls.

The scene was totally quiet. There was no trace of enemies above the walls, apart for the usual sentinels. The doors were closed, and all of the city's lights were off, probably in the attempt to not give landmarks for the enemy's artillery and siege instruments taking advantage even from the lack of moon and stars due to the bad weather.

It was cold.

Snow was rare in the northern Plains, but despite this during winter it was possible to reach even -10° at night, and since it was obviously forbidden to light a fire there was no choice but searching a bit of warm under the heavy and dark bear's fur used by the sentinels even for hiding.

The sentinel was about to eat some of the provisions in his bag, when a strange noise, almost a brief coughing, persuaded him to look toward the close bush where one of his comrades was hidden.

«Hamil, is something wrong?» he murmured.

Since he was an expert sentinel he was more than able to see clearly even with very little light, and so he didn't need much time to discover that his partner was lying dead to the ground, surrounded in his blood with a small hole in his forehead.

«Hamil!?»

A few seconds later, the same sound echoed again and again, and each time the sentinel heard it someone else of the other sentinels around him fell lifeless all around him, all of them hit with deadly accuracy in the same place.

«Ocar. Barca.» he tried to call, but none of them could answer anymore.

That was impossible. There was no way that someone might be able to shoot dead so many targets in a bunch of seconds, in the most complete darkness and so far from the walls. Even the greatest of the mages wouldn't have been able to do it.

«How can this be…» then he tried to poke his head out a bit to take a look, but the moment his forehead appeared from behind the rock he too was hit by the silent assassin, falling over the stone that rapidly turned red.

* * *

«And with this, it's a three to two for me.» Niang said releasing the empty cartridge from his silenced rifle. «You're getting old, Rizzoli.»

«That was mine, you goddamn bunch of coal, you tricked me.» Rizzoli replied while licking the lens of his silenced rifle's thermic finder as usual.

«You're jealous, admit it.» Niang joked, then he spoke into the radio. «Wasp to Eagle, all sentinels are gone.»

«Nice job, Wasp.» Rocco said from the top of the tower.

«That was the last one, sir.» Stefanini reported while looking with binoculars all-around her with Torrisi.

«Alright.» then Rocco too spoke to the radio. «Eagle to Scorpion. The path is clear.»

«Roger that. We're moving out.»

A few second later, five ropes descended from the walls, and Lunardi and his team, once reached the ground, silently headed toward the enemy camp, the darkness all around them under constant surveillance with night visors and guided from the spotters right to their target.

Reich's camp was not very fortified: probably they didn't think that the Calibrians would ever dare to attack them directly, since most of the fortification was a simple wall of slanting wooden poles stuck in in a raised embankment all around the camp.

As the photos had already showed, most of the camp was located behind the hill, but there was a certain number of tents evenly spread around of it, not to mention the watch towers and the fact that contrarily to the City there was a big number of torches illuminating the field.

Thanks to the visors and the watchers' assistance, Lunardi and his squad managed to cross the perimeter and the camp unnoticed by the sentinels, and in a few minutes they reached the base of the hill.

«Don't move, Scorpion.» Eagle said. «Sentinels on the hill.»

Two Reich's soldiers were mounting guard at the holes from which the squad had to enter the firing position, so they flattened against the flank of the hill before being spotted.

«Two sentinels at the holes, and three sleeping guards.» Stefanini said. «Do I order to neutralize the sentinels?»

That was highly risky. Even if the rifles were silenced and deadly accurate, there was a certain risk for the fell of the guards being noticed by other sentinels, not to mention that the noise of the falling bodies was able to alert the other soldiers inside the wall.

However that one seemed the sole option.

Lunardi was at the point to request supporting fire, but a moment before he could do it the radio spoke again.

«They're moving.»

The soldiers looked up, and they saw both sentinels leaving the holes, probably to continue their patrol.

That was their best occasion.

Using sign language, Lunardi ordered to Argento to follow him, so they rapidly climbed the hill using the same ropes and entered in the firing position.

As fast as gods of death, the two soldiers reached the sentinels from behind and cut their throats with the knives, and after having reached the top of the hill themselves Boldi, Cassetti and Valenti did the same with their friends, killing them before they could shout or even notice what was happening.

After that, Lunardi and Cassetti reached the opening on the other side, noting that the guards at the base of the ramp used to move the cannons till the top hadn't noticed anything.

«Clear.» Lunardi said. «Come on, quickly.»

At that point, Cassetti opened his backpack, and all five soldiers begun placing the explosives inside the holes of the cannons, trying their best to ignore their frightening appearance. The drachenmünder were really massive, and it was not a mystery that the terror they were able to provoke was one of Reich's best and most used war tactics, since they were able to provoke unthinkable damages even against the strongest walls and defenses, not to mention the terrifying noise, the smoke and the smell they used to release at each shot.

When all of the explosives were put on set, they were connected to a single detonator connected to a remote control.

«Give me a moment.» said Boldi, the most expert of the unit with explosives. «I need a moment to prepare the detonator.»

«Are we sure this will be enough to destroy the cannons?» Argento demanded

«Even a single crack in the barrel will be enough to make the cannon useless, not to mention that we're literally surrounded with gunpowder. Trust me, the explosion will be so strong that noting will remain of this hill.»

Unfortunately none of them had noted the young, almost teenager soldier sleeping under a pile of wool blankets in search for a repair from the cold.

«Who are you?» he said when the noise, even if minimal, awakened him. «What are you doing? Ala…»

Cassetti immediately shot him with his silenced ARX, but it was already too late.

«What was it?» a sentinel asked to the other

They both reached the cannons as fast as possible, and even if Lunardi and his comrades tried to hide and shot them silently, but just the sight of their fallen companions was enough to pursue them to shout with all of their voices.

«Alarm! Intruders at the firing point!»

The squad killed both of them before they could leave the hill, but at that point the alarm bells were already echoing in the entire camp.

«Shit, they've been found out!» shouted Rocco while the lights among the tents increased.

The units patrolling the camp immediately headed to the hill, but it was just a matter of time before the entire enemy army was upon them.

«Come on, let's get out of here!»

«Wait Capitan, the detonator is not ready yet!»

«There are fifty thousand men heading against us, we have to leave now Captain!» Cassetti shouted

«If we leave, Calibria is lost!» then Lunardi turned to Boldi. «How much time do you need to finish?»

«Thirty seconds sir! That's all I need!»

Lunardi hesitated: that was about to become the longest thirty seconds in their life.

«Come on, let's cover the entrance! Go, go!»

So, when the Reichians finally reached the ramp, they found a rain of bullets waiting for them, and their offensive immediately stopped at the base of the hill.

«Scorpion to Eagle! We need a passage to the city!»

«Hold on, Scorpion! Viper-3 will be with you immediately!»

Then Rocco run out of the tower as fast as he could after having assigned command to Stefanini, reaching Wang and Amato inside the puma.

«Come on, let's go! Hurry!»

The plan had been carefully planned: if anything happened, the puma would have reached the hill passing from the main door, recovering the squad and retreating again inside of the city as fast as possible, before the enemies too could reach the entrance.

A firework was lanced from the tower to signal the guards at the door that the vehicle was arriving, but when the puma reached the doors a couple of minutes later they found them still closed, and the street blocked by a group of spearmen.

«What the fuck are you doing!» Rocco shouted coming down and heading to the captain. «Open the door!»

«I won't do it!» the man vigorously answered

* * *

Meanwhile, the noise had reached the Reichian command tent too, and while the camp was still trying to organize itself, Donzark and Octavia came outside

«What the hell is happening here?» Donzark shouted grabbing the first offices he saw in search for answers.

«The enemy has captured the drachenmünder, sir! We're trying to retake the hill!»

«How many?»

«Four or five, it seems.»

«You say me that you're not able to defeat five goddamn soldiers?»

«But they're… they're the Singing People, Sir!»

The two Generals remained speechless.

«What did you just say!?»

«It's true sir. They're the Singing People. We're trying our best to recapture the hill, but their weapons… they're turning us into pieces!»

«I don't care who they are!» Donzark finally said after an endless moment of disbelief, literally throwing the officer away. «Retake that goddamn piece of earth or I'll impale you all!»

«Why are they here?» Octavia demanded when they were alone.

«I was waiting for this. Now I'll make them pay for what they did to my army.»

* * *

 _**Hoc et omnibus mundis_ ( _In this and other worlds_ ) is the motto of all Falcon Units, while _Sempre pronti!_ ( _Always ready!_ ), is Falcon-1's personal motto and warcry.


	22. The Touch of the Reaper

**_Author's Notes_**

 _Hi my friends!^^_

 _Surprised? Well, I just couldn't leave you with such terrible cliffangher, and since some of you wrote me to know how the evets were supposed to end I did my best to complete the new chapter as fast as possible._

 _I mus be honest, it's been quite easy to write, because this chapter in particoular was in my mind since the beginning, so I had no problems in finding the most proper words._

 _For now it's still the unedited version, but you'll be able to see the edited chapter by very soon._

 _Stay tuned: new chapters will come very fast!^^_

 _See you soon!^_^_

* * *

21

«What means that you'll not let us pass?» Rocco yelled while Amato and Wang too came down from the vehicle.

«I cannot risk my city's safety.» the Calibrian Captain replied. «If we open the door, the magic barrier that protects the city's sky will open too, and Calibria will become vulnerable.»

«We need just few seconds to cross the door. You can close it the moment we leave, and opening it again when we'll make return.»

«Do you have any idea of how this door's burden? Two minutes and no less than eight men are necessary to open and close it, and if the Reichians should find out that it's open, they'll attack for sure.»

«Scorpio to Viper-3, we'll not last for much long!» came from the radio «We need extraction now!»

«Do you hear them?» Rocco kept on shouting. «Our comrades are fighting to protect your city!»

«And they'll be probably dead before you can reach them, and in meantime we'll have to keep our door and our shield opened. It would be like a formal invitation for Reich to attack us!»

«We're far much faster than you can think! And we cannot let them die without trying to save them!»

«And I cannot risk the life of over twenty-five thousand people to save only five soldiers.» the Captain said with no hesitation, while his men kept on protecting the door standing in front of the Puma and the Italians.

* * *

The Reichians did everything they could to recover Hardy's throne, but apart for the ramp the rest of the hill was too steep for being easily climbed, not to mention that apart for the holes the main opening was the sole entrance.

Lunardi and the others fired everything they could, successfully keeping them at bay for the time they needed.

«Done it!» Boldi finally said

«Come on, let's go!»

Lunardi ordered to Argento and Valenti to leave for firsts, but the moment they reached the hole they dramatically found out that the enemy below them had brought siege stairs, and they were now trying to climb the hill.

«Shit!» Argento shouted «Captain, they're coming from here too!»

«We're surrounded!» Boldi said

The situation was still already difficult, but it turned to dramatic the moment that the enemies, having understood that a direct attack was impossible, called the gewehre wielders to do their job.

«Watch out!» Lunardi said, successfully pursuing his comrades in finding cover before being hit by the first hail of bullets.

However, at the same time, an entire division of archers arrived from the opposite direction.

«Arrows!» Valenti shouted when a clout of arrows appeared from the holes' side of the wall.

Fortunately all arrows missed their target, but now for Lunardi and the others was becoming really difficult to reach the door of the palisade and shoot properly to the enemies.

«Scorpion to Viper-3, where the fuck are you?» Lunardi ultimately yelled at the radio, throwing away his usual self-control.

That was the last straw.

Hearing his captain's desperate request for help, Rocco ultimately pointed the rifle to the head of the Calibrian officer and pursuing the spearmen behind him to raise their weapons too.

«Choose, pal. Open this door, or I'll open your head.»

The situation was likely to degenerate, but suddenly a peremptory voice came from behind the Italians' back.

«Open that door, Captain!» someone shouted, pursuing everyone in turning toward the same direction.

«G… General Aristhes…»

«Open the door. These soldiers have my authorization to go.»

«But… but the city… the barrier…»

«Enough! Open it! This is an order!»

It was simply impossible to disobey to the Commander General of the Army, so at the end the guard had no choice but surrender, and he ordered to his men to open the door. However, before Rocco and the others could come back to the vehicle, he severely looked at them.

«Five minutes. That's the time I'll keep this door opened. But if you'll not be back in five minutes, or if just one of them arrives less than half a mile far from the walls, I will immediately close again the doors, and then you'll have to kill if you'll want open it again.»

«Don't worry.» Rocco replied. «We'll be back before you can scratch your useless balls.»

Minutes later the doors were finally opened, and at the point the puma rapidly left silently watched by Aristhes and the others.

* * *

Meanwhile, the situation was worsening for each passing minute.

Lunardi and the others were almost out of ammunitions, but on the opposite the immense amount of casualties had filled Reichians' hearts with fear, making them much more hesitant than before.

However, there was still no trace of reinforcements.

«Viper-3 to Scorpion.» finally came from the radio. «Your passage is coming. Estimated time for extraction, two minutes.»

«We could no more be here in two, press the accelerator!»

Two minutes were still a reasonable time to wait if compared to what they had just faced, but Lunardi was not so sure that they were able to resist so long.

«Boldi, keep the detonator ready! If necessary, we'll take these cannons away with us!».

In meantime, the Reichians had faced so many losses that now they almost had no courage to try crossing the ramp or climbing the walls and the gewehre at the opposite were not so strong to pierce the wood and kill the hidden enemies.

Suddenly someone appeared behind the soldiers regrouped in front of the ramp, and violently pushing away some of them he reached the first line; he was wielding a massive, giant broadsword, apparently raw in its form but despite this absolutely frightening in its dimensions and appearance.

«If you want something done properly…» Donzark said, and then he started running toward the enemies.

«One of them is coming!» Cassetti said

«Fire away!»

Cassetti and Lunardi shot, but Donzark's sword was so thick and large that he was able to use it as a shield, and before they could to something to stop him, he was already in front of them.

Lunardi was the one to be targeted, since Donzark had understood that he was the leader, and despite being equipped just with a sword, even if massive, he soon proved out being a formidable opponent.

«Captain!» some of the others yelled

«Don't stop firing! Keep them at bay!»

Inspired by their commander's act, the Reichians finally kept on advancing, especially from the ramp, and this time there was no bullet or grenade capable of stopping them; at that point, Cassetti had no choice but grab a barrel of gunpowder and making it roll down the ramp.

Casseti shot to the barrel the moment it reached the enemies, and a devastating deflagration immediately occurred, killing a great number of enemies and creating even more panic with fire and noise.

«This is the last time you interfere with our plans, bastards!» Donzark shouted while facing Lunardi.

Flavio tried to shot him many times, but every time he tried his opponent used the sword for protecting, and at the end Lunardi's ultimate loader extinguished, leaving him dangerously exposed.

«Reach your Gods!»

Lunardi had no choice but trying to use his rifle to protect himself, but that sword was so goddamn powerful that the ARX was broken in two, and as if it wasn't enough the knockback was so powerful that Lunardi's right wrist slid; and now, he was completely powerless.

All other soldiers were too occupied in trying to repel the assaulters, but the moment he rose his head in search of a new loader Argento saw the Captain kneeling to the ground, ready to be killed by the dark knight in front of him.

«Captain!»

With no hesitations he advanced toward the enemy shooting everything he had, and at that point Donzark had no choice but leaving his first pray and focusing on another one.

Lunardi was still trying to recover from the extreme pain coming from his wrist, and what he found out what was happening it was too late.

Donzark reached Argento even before the young soldier was able to consume his loader, always protecting himself behind the sword; then, when he finally reached him, he threw away the boy's weapon with a powerful blow, before inserting almost three inches of his blade right in Argento's belly piercing even the bulletproof vest.

«Walter!» he shouted the moment he saw his comrade falling down with his uniform red of his blood, terrified and with wide opened eyes, the moment Donzark pulled out the sword from his body.

However, Donzark didn't have enough time to deal the final blow, because in that moment some sort of bombs rained down from the sky, releasing an explosion of smoke that in the blink of an eye covered the entire hill with a thick and dense cloud.

«This is Viper-3, your passage is here!»

Seconds later the puma appeared from nowhere, overwhelming hundreds of Reichians under its massive wheels before stopping right under Hardy's Throne. Before the enemies were able to do something, Rocco appeared on the turret and begun shooting in all directions with the , killing countless Reichians and keeping them far from the vehicle.

«Come on, come on!» Wang shouted. «I'll not stay here till tomorrow.»

Lunardi, with the strength born of desperation, got up deaf to the pain, and by instinct he reached Argento where he was sure he was, finding him still lying to the ground.

«Stay with me, soldier. I take you out of here.» he said when he noted that he was still alive.

Donzark was just a couple of meters far from them, but the cloud was so dense that when it finally started fading all he could do was watching his prays leaving the hills from the holes of the cannon.

Lunardi was the last, and before leaving he and Donzark looked each other for countless, infinite seconds, and ultimately even Flavio left, managing despite pain and the enemies all around him to reach the vehicle together with Argento.

«Help me!» he ordered.

Cassetti and Boldi helped him to pose Argento to the ground, then everyone got on board, closing all the doors before the enemies could reach them.

«Take us out of here!» Rocco shouted, and Wang immediately left at full speed.

Donzark was still looking at the vehicle when he noted a strange things inside of one of the cannons, some sort of white dough with a little string that descending from the mouth. The moment he noted that even all other cannons had the same thing inside of them, and that all strings were connected to a same little box, a terrible suspect made in tremble in fear.

«Holy shit.» and then he immediately escaped, just in the same moment when Boldi inside the puma took the detonator.

«Merry Christmas, bastards.» he said before pulling the trigger.

Less than a second later, the entire Hardy's Throne was completely wiped away from the most devastating and powerful explosion ever seen, so powerful that he turned for a moment the night into day, provoking a rain of fire that burned many tents of Reich's camp, not to mention the countless soldiers that remained killed.

«Holy Hardy.» said a completely speechless Aristhes

On contrary Donzark, miraculously survived by hiding in the bottom of a natural trench near the hill, was more than enraged, and he had no intention to let that men life after such humiliation.

«Kill them! Kill them now!»

* * *

«Giada, do something!» Lunardi shouted while trying with really few results to press over Argento's wound.

Valenti did her best to provide help in that narrow and overcrowded space, but being a medic she had noted since the beginning that his comrade's situation was truly dramatic.

«The bowel is lacerated! We must stop the bleeding!» then she took both his Captain's and her own neck bandage, violently pressing them against the young soldier's wound in the desperate attempt to stop the blood.

«Viper-3 to HQ, we're coming back with a wounded.»

«Received.» Stefanini said from the other side. «We'll make you find a stretcher and the operation room ready for your way back.»

Argento was still conscious, but he was almost at the point of fading, and the most total fear was clearly visible in his eyes.

«Stay awake, soldier!» Lunardi kept on repeating. «I command you! Don't dare to fall asleep!»

«I… I don't want to die…» Argento tried to say in tears shedding blood with every breath. «I… want… go home…»

«You'll come back home, Walter, I swear you! Stay with me!»

On the walls, Rizzoli and Niang were doing their best to protect the vehicle along its run to safety, taking down with deadly accuracy all the horsemen that were desperately trying to stop it, but suddenly a dark and massive shadow appeared above the Reichian's burning camp.

«What the…» Niang stammered. «Hell is that thing…?»

* * *

The flame dragons were certainly too big and savage for being easily tamed and used by the humans, but in the far northern Falmart there was a rare and particular species of dragons, the Fire Dragons of the Erwin Mountains, tractable enough to be tamed and with the rare ability to spit fire.

The soldiers called to tame and ride such beasts were called Walkure, and were as much respected and important in Reich's army as the gewehre wielders.

For sieging Calibria Reich had taken with it three dragons and a certain number of wyverns, but due to the camp's enormous confusion only one of them had been able to take off on time, and he immediately headed against the puma.

«Dragon coming!» Rocco shouted, and he immediately started shooting against it.

Even Niang and Rizzoli tried to take him out, but that beast's armor was much thicker than anything they were able to pierce with their weapons.

«It's useless, that bastard is like a tank.» Rizzoli protested.

«Then let's try something stronger!» Niang replied.

The most scared however was the captain guarding the doors, which seeing that beast coming right against them trembled like few other times in his life.

«I'll not let it burn the city! Close the door! Restore the barrier!»

«Wait, don't do it!» Aristhes commanded. «They can kill it!»

«This is foolish, General! There's no use that someone can kill that monstrosity!»

«They can! Maintain position, and be ready to close when they cross the door!»

Meanwhile the dragon was pretty much over them, and even if its belly was a bit softer than the rest of the body, Rocco was unable to inflict some sort of damage no matter how much he kept shooting.

Then, the dragon opened his mouth, inside of which a sinister red light started appearing.

«Shit! Breath's coming!»

«Come down, now!» Cassetti yelled

Rocco immediately obeyed, closing the hatch just in time before a devastating wave of fire completely run over the puma, and seeing such tremendous thing Stefanini and the others seriously feared for their comrades' fate.

«They're… they're gone…» the Captain trembled. «Please General, let us close the door!»

Despite his initial confidence, Aristhes too had remained astonished seeing Lunardi and his squad apparently burn alive, and at that point he was seriously ready to approve the door's closing.

Instead, moments later, the puma appeared from fire and dust, and as if that blow did it nothing it kept on running toward the city.

«They're safe!» the General exclaimed.

But the truth was completely different.

The puma had been able to resist, that was true, but the situation inside of it wasn't happy: it's entire body was smoking, and the six heels were half-burned due to the extreme heat they had to face. And it wasn't all.

«Why are we slowing down?» Rocco shouted

«The engine is overheated!» Wang replied. «It's not built for such temperatures! Duì, nǐ zhège húndàn! Děng yīxià! (Come on, bastard! Resist!)»

«One more spit of fire, and we'll become human roasts.» Cassetti commented.

And seeing that his target was still alive, the Walkure ordered to his dragon a second shot.

Meanwhile, Valenti was still trying to stop Argento's bleeding, but at least the young soldier was barely conscious, despite Lunardi's desperate attempts to keep him awake.

«P… please, Captain… tell my father… that I'm sorry. I'm sorry… if I disappointed him…»

That was a well-known story.

Walter's father was Commendator Leonardo Agento, the owner of the famous Argento's Supermarkets, but contrarily to his parents' decision he had decided to subvert family tradition in search of his own way, finding it in the Army.

«You'll see your father again, Walter. And I'm sure I'll be extremely proud of you. But you have to stay with me. Understood? Stay with me!»

The dragon was almost at the point of launching a new breath of fire, and in the same moment, on the walls, Niang had prepared the anti-material rifle, loading it with explosive bullets.

«It's useless!» Rizzoli objected. «Its armor is too goddamn strong, you can barely scratch it.»

«Who said I'm aiming to the armor?»

The dragon opened its mouth once again, and for a single moment, when the red light appeared inside of it, everything froze, and in that precise instant Niang shot.

The bullet entered in the beast's mouth less than a second before it could release its fire, and less than two second later all his head literally exploded with tremendous power, taking away even half of its neck.

«This… this is impossible!?» its rider exclaimed.

The soldiers and the same Aristhes remained astonished seeing that monster collapse to the ground right behind the puma, and they were so incredibly confused for what they had just seen that they did nothing until the vehicle finally crossed the door, safely making return to the city.

«Hurry up, close the door!» the General ordered.

Some other Reich's horsemen were trying to reach the walls, but the door was ultimately closed long before they could be able to reach it, and when the rest of the soldiers saw from the towers and the wall the enemy camp burning shouts of joy echoed in all Calibria.

Meanwhile, at the tower, Stefanini, Torrisi and the others were ready with the stretcher, and when the vehicle stopped next to them they immediately opened the puma's backdoor; however, they immediately found out that the stretcher was no more necessary.

* * *

While the south side of the camp was still burning, General Octavia immediately called for a meeting in the command tent, and when Donzark entered, covered in mud and with a certain number of scratches, Octavia thought that she had never seen him so enraged.

Even Ludwika was present, even if as always she was simply playing with her dolls in a corner.

«We lost one thousand men this morning, and more than eight hundred in the last hour!» Donzark yelled «The drachenmünder are lost, and even it we had put all of our mages at work they'll take till tomorrow to extinguish the fire!»

«Are you sure that our siege weapons are lost?»

«If you want you can try to recover the pieces. But I doubt you might find something bigger than your tiny little hand.»

A medic came to heal Donzark's wounds, but he was so enraged that the general violently pushed him away.

«I don't understand.» Octavia questioned «What are the Singing People doing in Calibria? Our spies in the diplomatic missions made no reports of their presence.»

«I'll crucify them all, those cursed blind bastards.»

«Calm your rage, Donzark. We have to reason with clarity. Maybe the Singing People have reached an agreement with the Calibrians. And in this case, I fear this could be a suicide siege.»

«Are you joking?» Donzark replied imagining what her partner was thinking. «I'll not escape for a second time, not at all. And even if you and the others think differently, they're not immortals or gods. They're humans like you and me.»

«How can you be so sure?»

«Because I killed one of them. I just have to do the same with all other ones.»

«I don't doubt of your force and bravery Donzark, but try to be realistic. You've been lucky to leave that hill alive. Their weapons are far superior, we knew it, and if they should decide to attack us in forces, this time we might not have a second chance.

I mean, they were barely five, and look what they've done us.»

Donzark reflected for a moment. His pride as a warrior had been dirty for two times in a few months, but even if he had always thought that might and audacity were the sole necessary virtues to be the perfect soldier he had to recognize that maybe the Singing People were not the kind of opponents one was able to defeat only with brute force.

«If their war instruments are similar to our gewehre, it means that they make use of ammunition. And if they use ammunition, they can run out of it.» then he malignantly smiled, looking at a certain direction. «And if necessary, we can always count on our ace in the sleeve.»

Octavia looked at the same direction, understanding immediately what he was thinking.

«It's out of question, Donzark. We cannot do something like this. She's here only to inspire our soldiers.»

«We have to win.» said a sarcastic Donzark

«What would they think if we should be forced to make use of the Apostle of Fuhrer to win our wars? The might of Reich and our power as a nation will be at risk.»

«Even better than throw on your sword, don't you think?»

Octavia hesitated, while a drop of sweat went down to wet her forehead.

She knew the oath she had made in front of her empress, and even if she was not afraid to die, she cared even for the sake of her nation.

«Tomorrow morning I'll call Lord Magnus and I'll search for his advice. He'll tell us what to do. For now, let's try to recover from this terrible night.»


	23. Bear's Den

**_Author's Notes_**

 _Here I am!^^_

 _This time I took something more than expected, but I had few free moments in the last week, so even most of the chapter was almost ready monday evening already, I had to wait till this week-end to complete it._

 _From now on, and for the next 2-3 chapters, the Falcon-1's adventures will go in the background for a while, but don't worry: Lunardi's story will return at the right moment^^_

 _See you soon!^_^_

 _Cj Spencer_

* * *

22

«Are you sure about it?» Magnus asked to the glass sphere glowing over the desk in his studio.

«Absolutely, Your Grace.» Octavia answered in the same moment inside the command tent, she too while speaking to a similar shining globe.

«We received no news about the Singing People's presence in Calibria. Have you received no news from our spies inside the city?»

«Only this morning, Your Grace. It seems that the barrier over the city was blocking the spell. But the Calibrians need a lot of energy to preserve the barrier, and so they've been forced to dissipate it at down, and thanks to this we've been finally able to contact them.»

«And then?»

«There are no more than fifteen Singing People in Calibria, but their true purpose is not clear. However, even if they're few, they're also well equipped with war chariots and fire weapons.»

«This is strange. Our spies keep Castria under control since our last defeat, and I've heard no news about unusual movements in the latest days. On contrary, it seems that due to the winter, all of their units have made return to town.»

«Probably they arrived here long time ago, Your Grace.»

«Then why our spies have made no reports about them?»

«It seems that they've kept their true identity secret till yesterday, Your Grace, and when our spied found it out the barrier had been activated already.»

Magnus remained silent for a brief time, trying to understand their situation and find out the best solution. But the truth was that there weren't other solutions to the same one that had forced their Empire to start that desperate campaign.

«Do you want we stop the siege, Your Grace?»

«This is the best and probably the sole occasion we have to expand further and reach the Empire's boarders. If the Singing People should know what we're planning for, they would immediately try to stop us, and we're still not strong enough to face their forces. But if we manage to reclaim Calibria and the entire Plains, they'll found themselves surrounded by our dominion, and their freedom of act will be dramatically reduced. They could even decide to negotiate with us.»

«This means that we must necessarily conquer Calibria before they can send someone to help their men inside the city.»

«Precisely, General. And this means that before spring Calibria has to fall.»

«It could be really difficult, Your Grace. The drachenmunder hare lost, and with our current resources we can build a maximum of five trebuchets.»

«I'll personally take care of assisting you.»

«How, Your Grace?»

«It's not a problem of yours. But the work of the spies will be important from now on. You think they can open the doors for us?»

«I' afraid not, Your Grace. The surveillance is really strict, and even if Hari in particular is trustable for such missions I'm afraid that this would risk being a bit too much.»

«I understand. But they can still be useful. Order them to make report for everything. If they can help us in stopping their sorties or sabotaging the Calibrians' defenses will be more than enough for now.»

«Yes, Your Grace.»

«And tell them to keep an eye on the Singing People in particular. If they'll be able to call for reinforcements from Castria, we have to know it.»

«As you command, Your Grace. Should we speak to Her Highness about this?»

«It's not necessary. We both know our Holy Empress's way to think even too much. She could make up the decision of interrupting the siege if someone should say her that the Singing People is involved in all this.»

«I understand, Your Grace.» Octavia replied after a brief moment of silence. «I'll do as you order.»

«Very well. That's all General. Sieg Fuhrer.»

«Sieg Fuhrer.»

* * *

That was the second time in a few weeks already that the Silenzio echoed in the tower's small square.

However that time was different, because in front of the honor guard detail standing on line with the unit's flag draped in mourning there was not only a photo, but also a wooden coffin covered in an handmade Italian flag and with a dirty helmet placed on the top.

Argento was at his second mission as a member of the Falcon-1, and before being sent in the Special Region he had neither seen a war zone in his life, since he had spent most of his career as a soldier in the "Strade Sicure" operation.

This time, instead of some soldier, an entire unit of Calibria's royal guard was present, even the same King Deiphobos, while Aristhes had taken place at Lunardi's side.

Flavio in particular was in a very bad state, not only for the arm tied to the neck due to the bad injury faced that night. Like most of the squad's veterans, that was not the first time he had to assist to a comrade's funeral, but that was the first time that he had been forced to literally see one of his men who died in his arms.

«It's my fault.» me murmured while Cassetti was blessing the coffin.

«It's not true, Flavio.» Aristhes answered. «You were surrounded and overwhelmed by the enemies, yet you've succeeded in your mission, and you've also managed to bring back almost all of your soldiers. Everyone in the city already speak of a miracle. Your action have moved the hearts of my people, they don't think this is a hopeless war anymore.»

«But someone had to die to achieve all this. And he's died because I've been unable to protect myself.»

«Sometimes, a soldier has to die to protect his leader. Because if the leader dies, the other soldiers will lose their guide and their lives will be in an even greater danger. I suppose they taught you when you became a soldier.»

«But they even taught me that if a leader is not able to care for himself, he's not worth of his role.»

«Flavio, you're not a God. You may have the greatest technology of any world, but you're still a mortal. It's simply… happened. Even the best ones can fail.»

«And a young soldier had to die because I've failed. He trusted me, but he's been forced to save me sacrificing the same life he had put on my hands.»

«You're right. He trusted you. And so all the other ones. They have faith in you. And you cannot be their leader if you waste your time for self-pity.»

Lunardi lowered the eyes, torn apart by a storm of different feelings, but soon he was forced to admit that Aristhes was right. They were still fighting a war, and in that moment he had to be at his best, because even if Argento was dead, there were still thirteen lives depending on you, and so he was not in a position to cry on him.

After the funeral's ending, Argento's body was buried in a pit close to the walls, not far from the tower, and after that Lunardi and Aristhes climbed to the top of the wall, turning their eyes toward the Plains.

Columns of smoke were still rising from Reich's camp, but after almost twelve hours the fire had been almost completely extinguished. The tents and provisory buildings all around Hardy's Throne were almost completely burned, but the entire camp in general had faced serious damages, and judging from the stink of burnt meat the enemy had counted several hundred victims.

Hardy's Throne too was destined to never be the same again: the explosion had been so powerful that almost half of the hill had been polished, and its pieces, sometimes as big as enormous rocks, had been shot in all directions, succeeding in some cases in overcoming the walls and smashing some houses, fortunately making no victims.

But they were still there. Despite everything, there were no signs of an imminent dismantling of the camp, and even if there were no signs of an imminent attack it was clear that Reich's army had no intention to leave.

«They're still there.» ruefully said Lunardi.

«Yes, but now our city is safe, at least for a bit. You destroyed their siege weapons, and I'm sure they've already faced no less than two thousand casualties between their first attack and your operation.»

«They'll build other weapons. Catapults, trebuchets. They don't lack wood.»

«We can face it. We already faced the Empire's war instruments, and these walls are built to face them. For now, the important thing is to reduce their numbers as much as possible while we can. We're preparing to launch a series of sorties in the next days, before they can complete building their new siege machines.»

«Our weapons are not meant for close combat. All we can do is provide support for your troops from here.»

«It's what I wanted since the beginning. You're become some sort of saints for my people. As long as you will fight for us, the people will have faith in victory. And at now we desperately need of faith.»

«You just said we're not Gods.»

«But you can be heroes. You already are heroes. And one of you has died to protect this people. Now everyone knows that you're ready to lose your lives for Calibria, and the power you proved to have has filled their hearts with hope.»

«Mere hope can't win wars.» said a cold Lunardi. «And fourteen men cannot stop an army. This is not a war we can win alone.»

Aristhes and Lunardi remained silent for a while, only looking at the enemy camp with their own thoughts.

«Speaking of this, now that their cannons are destroyed, as I said, Calibria will be able to resist for a while. We could have gained enough time for someone of yours to reach Castria and ask for help.»

«That was my original purpose: destroy the cannons and leave for Castria before they could understand our involvement. But now that plan is ruined.»

«Why? The city is not completely surrounded yet. You could still leave.»

«Now they know we're here. Probably they have already warned their spies between us and Arlea. We don't know how many of them are waiting for us, and since our armored vehicle is unusable I cannot risk the life of my soldiers sending them out there without a proper defense.» then Lunardi lowered the eyes, suspiring in concern. «And there's one more thing. Even if they know we're here, they haven't left the siege. This means that they know we're few, and think they might be able to take the city anyway despite our presence.»

«And this is bad?»

«Really bad. They're well aware that they would be wiped away against our main forces, but they will still try to take the city, even if they know that we could receive help next spring, at the latest. I see only two options for such behavior. Or they're learning to have no fear of us, or their determination in subjugate Calibria is far greater than their fear for us. And if this is our case, as a soldier I learned that there's only one reason capable to pursue someone in taking such serious risks.»

«And is?» Aristhes asked as if he didn't want to know the answer.

«Desperation.» and they both returned looking at the enemy camp, as worries as few other times in their lives.

* * *

Located in the deep of the Rho Valley, for a long time Avenio had been the Empire's northernmost city, and even if in recent years new towns and settlements located in the northwestern coast were built it was still known for this particular aspect.

But the truth was that Avenio was all but a city: nothing more than a bunch of old, decrepit houses placed in a narrow meander of the Rho, in a place along the mountains where the mighty river was still a tumultuous stream, pitifully surrounded by an old wooden palisade neither surveilled nor patrolled.

In fact, the "city" was so little considered that it didn't even have its own garrison, and the old and creepy fortress that were supposed to be the governor's palace was abandoned since the time when the present old men were still babies.

The last governor had left the Avenio when even the last thing capable of make the city attractive for the Empire, its nearby enthium mines, ran out of mineral, and even considering the dangerous closeness to Reich's boarders Consul Demetrius of Tirintus province had recently made the decision of leaving the northern valley and focusing on creating a new defensive line on south.

Almost all of the peasants were farmers, woodcutters or hunters, not to mention the mercenaries aired from the town council to guarantee at least a bit of protection against robbers and marauders that after the Imperial Army's departure had turned the valley and surrounding mountains into their personal hunting reserve.

For all these reasons, it was really uncommon to see new faces in Avenio, especially if they came from the stone bridge that crossing the stream led to the eastern mountains.

So, when that evening five people entered in the sole tavern of the city, everyone sat at the dirty tables turned to them, remaining silent for a few moments and trying to search for their faces among the smoke of candles and pipes. They were five men and a female cobold, dressed with simple leather armors and old, filthy wool coats.

The hostile silence lasted for the few moments the newcomers took to reach one of the few free tables, then everyone returned to drink, chat and smoke, because the first rules in the places like Avenio was that one had to mind his own business if he cared for his life.

Sometime later the innkeeper went to bring them the sole things he had, some flabby deer meat and watered down cider.

«That's it.» then he stretched out his hand towards the apparent leader, an almost bald man with a small scar on the left cheek and icy eyes. «Early payment. Fifteen soruda.»

«For this shit?» replied the sole woman of the group apart for the cobold. «You should pay us for eat such trash that you call a dinner.»

«If you don't like it, you can leave. But I hope you like wild berries and mushrooms, because it's all you'll find out there, since this is the sole tavern in the all goddamn city.»

«You got the monopoly, uh?» the bald man replied taking the money from the bag at his belt. «But my friend is right, this is dog food. At least, you should try to deserve my money with something more than this disgusting deer.»

«As I said, this is the best you can have.» the innkeeper replied in a very arrogant way

«I'm not speaking of food, but information.»

The fat man hesitated, looking both at the coins in the mercenary's hand in the bag.

«It depends on the information.» he said smiling malignantly

«As you see, we're warrant soldiers. Until recently we were part of the Imperial Army, but those fucking bastard threw us out, and now we're in search for a new job. They told us that this might be the right place if you're spoiling for a fight.»

Once again the innkeeper carefully looked at them, but this time his glance was much more suspicious.

«And why in the world imperial soldiers would come here through the mountains?

«We were part of Prince Zorzal's expedition against the Warrior Bunnies three years ago, but when his noble boot kicked our asses out of his army after the campaign we found ourselves trapped in the heart of the Plains. We spent more time hiding from the Free Cities' scouts than sleeping, and the sole way we found to reach safety was to cross the western mountains.

So? Do you need us or not?»

«You seem quite skilled soldiers.» the innkeeper said after yet another glimpse. «But we're already full of mercenaries in this filthy hole.»

«That's not the kind of work we were thinking to. The truth is that we're quite tired of killing for someone else; we want to be our own chiefs. And we heard this could be the best one can find this kind of work, if he has… an opened mind.»

The commander's eyes were more than eloquent, and so the innkeeper's, and for a long moment they looked each other while the owner's face gradually took a very serious and almost offended expression.

«We don't want problems here. Maybe I should call a couple of our guys and tell them to open your bellies.»

«Don't get the wrong idea; we're not the kind of guys who like to cut the throat of some poor miserable for a few coins. But the Empire pays a lot of money to the ones brave… or crazy enough to bring it the head of its enemies.»

Then, the commander took six more coins from the bag, directly putting them inside the owner's apron.

«There could be the right place for you, but I strongly suggest you to forget it, if you care for your life.»

«We'll take the risk. Speak.»

«There's a big band of robbers that uses to lives here in the valley. They assault caravans, travelers and small villages on both sides of the western mountains, and especially along the passes. Usually they spend this part of the year on the other side, toward Arlea and Castria, but this time, and for the first time since I have memory they made the decision of moving here in the valley in wait for the next spring.»

«Robbers, uh? Interesting. And do you know where we can find them?»

«Probably they moved to their local hideout, the ancient Masada, close to the valley's southern border.»

«It seems a good pray.» the cobold commented.

«Trust me, don't think about it. Even if that place is in ruin, I heard they've still been able to turn it into a powerful fortress, not to mention that we're speaking of forty or more cutthroats between humans, goblins and other demi-humans. It would be a suicide for a bunch of failed soldiers like you.»

«Don't worry, we know to care for ourselves.»

The innkeeper was sure that the men in front of him were completely out of mind if they were so determined to risk their lives so carelessly, but at the end he respected the first rule of Avenio and left them alone.

«So, Zori.» the commander said turning to the cobold when they finally remained alone. «What do you know about this Masada?»

«It's an old fortress in the Thimania region, half between here and the southern valley. One of the many castles and forts built during the final years of the Thimanian Rebellion.»

«Yes, I remember it. It happened during the Artic War.»

«It's been the event that started the war, to be exact. Almost the entire North rebelled in that occasion, and the same Thimania has been one of the latest provinces to surrender. Masada has been wiped away during the final years of the war, but most of the ancient fortress is still there.»

«This could be quite problematic, Sir.» said a middle-aged man. «We're barely fifteen, and he spoke of forty enemies.»

«We cannot escape, not without having made them pay what they did to our comrades.» said the female.

«What do you think, Zori?»

«Probably those marauders have repaired part of the fortress, but it's still just a bunch of ruins. I'm sure you'll have no problems in subjugate it.»

«I hope it. We're too far from Castria to ask reinforcements.»

As if they were trying not to attract attention the newcomers started eating their disgusting dinner, but sometime later their attention was caught by the cackles coming from a close table where a group of locals, probably hunters, were sat.

But what intrigued them more was the curious, tiny little being standing at the center of the table: it was a tiny female human, no more than five inches tall, with shining orange hair, pale skin and a curious dress made of a shiny material. Plus this, a little pair of red wings appeared from her back, and as if she was just a mere dog she had a neck collar connected to the hand of one of those man with a short string.

«I can't believe it.» one said. «A true fairy!»

«It's been incredibly difficult, trust me. I had to burn an entire of their field to catch just a single one of these mosquitoes.»

«You're in the graces of the Gods, pal.» said another one. «These kind of things are incredibly valuable for the nobles.»

«In fact. Trust me my friends, tomorrow I'll depart for Tirintus immediately, and when I sell this little thing I'll have so much money to spend between alcohols and bitches the rest of my life.

That poor little thing was scared to death to say the least, and as if this wasn't enough his jailer kept on teasing and pulling her leash.

Seeing this, a flame of rage appeared in the eyes of newcomers' younger member, a young man probably thirty years old, but before he could got up from his stool the commander grabbed his leg forcing him to stay put.

«Calm down, Rambo. None of our business.»

At a certain point that men ordered to the fairy to serve them cider, but even if that poor little thing was able to fly the massive filled pitcher was too much for her, and while she was still trying to fill the first glass she inevitably let it fell, spreading the wine for the whole table.

«You filthy mosquito!» her owner protested trying to clean himself from the cider. «Look what have you done!»

The little fairy was if possible even more scared than before, but her scare turned in true terror when that sort of beast violently banged her on the table, blocking her belly down with his hand; probably she was not able to speak, but the cries and stirrings she started to launch were more than enough to express her fear; however, no one moved, and someone on the other tables was almost enjoying the show.

The fairy's owner at that point took out his knife, malignantly pointing it against the fairy.

«Maybe I should cut off your precious wing to teach you to not disappoint your lord, little one.»

«But you'll lose a lot of money if you take away her wings, pal!» one of his partners said

«You know nothing.» said another one. «Fairies' wings are like lizard tails: they grow again.»

«In fact.» said the owner. «But I heard the pain is incredible. I suppose this will be more than enough to make her understand her lesson.»

The hunter continued to approach the knife to the fairy's wings, which despite her desperate efforts was unable to get free.

«Let that fairy go!» someone shouted.

That man stopped, and almost the entire tavern turned to the newcomers' table; their youngest member stood up from the stool, and was now menacingly looking at the hunters.

«Betton, you idiot.» silently protested his chief

«What did you just said, little guy?»

«Right what I said. Let that fairy go, you miserable piece of shit.»

The other five hunters stood up to, but before his commander could try to stop him the young mercenary approached even more, going face to face with the fairy's owner. Their glances were all but peaceful, while the fairy on the contrary turned to her unexpected savior with the most complete astonishment on face.

«How did you call me, little brat?»

«Exactly what you heard. You must be a true piece of shit for doing such things.»

That one smiled, while tightening the knife even stronger.

«Ah, then I heard it right.» and immediately after he tried to hit the soldier in the neck.

The young man, however, was faster than him, and after having grabbed tightly the hunter's arm he broke it with a single blow, forcing him to leave the knife. Stunned but not scared, the other ones too took out their weapons, but before things could turn to worse a small crossbow appeared from the cobold's coat, and with a precise shot she struck the closest one's wrist, leaving the remaining one stuck for fear.

«I suggest you not try.» she said, and when the other mercenaries too took out some sort of strange metal weapons, something similar to a small version of Reich's gewehre, the other hunters had no choice but surrender.

The little fairy too was speechless when the young soldier snatched her collar, allowing her to fly freely once again.

«Don't worry.» he said while gently holding his hand to her «I don't want to harm you.»

She hesitated for a moment, but at the end she timidly flew to him, posing over his hand like a little bird.

«She comes with us.» he said to the hunters.

«I'll not forget it, bastard.» said the former owner why trying to not scream for pain.

At that point, the commander ordered to leave, and while keeping the hunters under threat his men quickly left the tavern taking the fairy away with them.

* * *

Not far from the city, a group of soldiers regrouped around strange steel chariots was keeping Avenio under control hidden among the trees.

«The Major is coming back.» Gazza said from the turret of his lince noting them approaching the hill thanks to his binoculars.

In fact, moments later, Major Dante and the rest of the scouts reach the rest of the squad.

«So, sir?» Santalba demanded

«We have a trace. A ruined stronghold name Masada, south from here.»

«Well done, sir.» Munaron commented. «And I thought that such things were able to happen only in those stupid fantasy games.»

«Everyone become loquacious with the proper inducement.» he replied while taking off his disguise. «By the way…» and he rapidly turned, punching the young soldier so strong to send him to the ground. «What the hell was you trying to do, Betton? They were about to cut your fucking throat!»

«But, sir, I was just…»

«We're not a humanitarian expedition! To save your goddamn butt we've been forced to reveal ourselves. What if someone should speak of us in the Empire?»

«I would not worry, Major Dante.» Zori replied. «Gewehre and similar are not an unusual sight in this part of the valley, and those idiots were not so smart to understand that your ones were not Reichian weapons.»

The little fairy had followed them, and her joyful flying around from hand to hand spreading light in all directions soon captured the amused attention of the entire squad.

«What are you doing here?» said Dante. «This idiot has released you. Go away while I'm still in a good mood.»

But the fairy didn't obey, and seeing such serious voice she turned to him with a sad and scared expression.

«Did you hear me? Go. You've already caused us enough troubles.»

«I'm afraid she'll not do it, Major.» Zori said. «You cannot abandon her, not now.»

«And why in the world?» Dante said in a very upset way, turning again to the fairy and scaring her with his red and menacing eyes. «Come on, come back home!»

She was really scared, but despite this she remained.

«Don't you understand, Major?» the colbod said again. «She has no more a home to come back.»

«What!?»

«Didn't you hear what that hunter said? He burned an entire field to capture her, and since the fairies are born from flowers, we can assume that field was her home, and that she's the sole remained one of her colony.»

Everyone silenced, and probably even the fairy understood what was said, since tears appeared in her eyes.

«I don't see the problem.» Dante said pretending not to be touched. «She can find a new home.»

«It's not so easy.» said Herera «Fairies have strong bonds, and their life is based around the colony where they are born. If a colony die or is wiped away, the survivors have no choice but creating a new one, but she's too young for such task. If we leave her to herself, she'll most probably be captured by someone else, or even worse.»

Somehow Dante knew from the beginning where they were going with that story, and her soldier mind kept on telling that he had to remind their duty. But on the opposite, the heart refused to stop telling him that he was a man before being a soldier.

«All right! All right! She comes with us! But only until she'll be able to go it alone!»

The fairy, having understood what he was saying, smiled in happiness, and almost everyone too were happy seeing that their commander was unable to appear under a different light, no matter how strongly he tried.

«Betton, take care of her.»

«What!? Why!?»

«Your mess, your problem! Shit, this is becoming a cursed carpool lane…»


	24. Amor patriae nostra lex

**_Author's Notes_**

 _Hi to everyone._

 _I'm back, are you happy?^^_

 _As always, I had to close the chapter before the estimated moment, since I had reached eight pages already, but don't worry: the new one will come sooner than expected._

 _It's time for some intrigues, don't you think?_

 _I hope you'll enjoy this a bit particoular and different chapter._

 _See you soon!^_^_

* * *

23

The colony was growing more and more for each passing day, and now it was almost finished.

At evening, when the trumpet coming from Alnus called the end of the works, carpenters, woodcutters and even some of the Green People used to find themselves in the tavern at the center of the town for drink, play and discuss, sometimes in a very colorful and passionate way, to be euphemistic.

Marcus Debronis was among the regular customers, and usually his company was truly appreciated: he was a very cheerful and curious young man from the Lakes' Region, not far from Tirintus, and like many others he had reached the colony in search for the best place where put his experience at a good use.

And in his case, he had been particularly lucky: since he used to work in his city's gathering food industry, taking note of the supplies entering and leaving the Imperial Barns, shortly after having reached the colony he had been selected together with other ones to work for the Green People as a warehouseman at Alnus, and thanks to this he had always a lot to money to spend in the tavern.

«Yo, Marcus.» Delilah said when he crossed the entrance.

«Good evening, Delilah.»

Marcus took seat in a small free table, and Delilah went to bring him the usual beer, receiving in exchange, as always, a generous tip.

«You're an angel, cute boy.» the warrior-bunny cheerfully said putting the coin in the generous groove between the breasts.

A couple of minutes later Lieutenant Itami too reached the tavern, followed by lady Rory, lady Lelei and some of the Third Recon members.

«Good Evening, Lieutenant.» Marcus said when the group sat at a nearby table.

«Hi Marcus. Are you throwing in the wind the payment of the day?» Kuribayashi joked.

«What a cruel thing to say, Miss Kuribayashi. Let's say that I'm taking a bit rest after a long day of work.»

«Don't pay attention to her my friend, it's well deserved.» Itami said. «Yanagida and the guys of the supplies are truly excited about your work.»

«Please, I'm not so important. I just tried to put my knowledge in a good use.»

«By the way, I admit you're really skilled.» Lelei commented. «Yanagida says that you and your men have a natural talent in keeping everything under eye. Your calculations are always correct and trustable, even if you don't make use of Japanese modern technology.»

«When I used to work in the Imperial grains, I found out a simple mathematic method to keep on mind everything that passes under my control. In this way, it's quite easy to keep count of what leaves and what enters in the Green People's storages.»

«Speaking of this, I'm quite surprised for the son of a farmer like you to be such skilled in math and similar.» Rory commented with her usual malicious tone.

«Since my birth, my father trained me to become someone more important than him. The late Magister of Tirintus was a kind and gentle person, so when I became old enough I've been allowed to study in an Imperial school to become an official.»

«Then why you left your hometown?» Tomita asked

«Things have changed in Tirintus since the Magister has died. The new ruler was not as friendly as him, and work for him has proved to be a bit… problematic. So, when I heard of this place, I thought it could be a fine place to find a new work.»

«And now you found your place, right?» Itami said

«Certainly. I can do what I love most, and I'm also well paid for it.» then he called Delilah. «Miss Delilah, bring beers for the Lieutenant and his fellows! On my bill!»

«Sure! Here they come!» she said from the bar counter.

Marcus joined them at their table, and for a bit of time they spent the of the evening all together.

But at a certain point, Unar passed right outside the tavern, ignoring other orcs' calls for a beer, and when Marcus turned to him their eyes met in a strange way.

«I'm sorry, Lieutenant.» the man said when Unar left. «But now I really have to go.»

«Why?» Rory demanded. «The night is still young.»

«I promised Lucia to be home soon.» Marcus smiled. «You know her, she becomes quite… problematic if I don't respect my promises.»

«Ah, the cursed life of a married man.» Itami commented. «This makes me remember why I'm so happy to be a bachelor again.» and then Marcus left, leaving the Lieutenant alone to face the consequences of what he had just said in presence of Rory.

The young man walked in loneliness along the main road for a while, then, as if he wanted be sure no one was following him, after having sneaky checked all-around he entered into a narrow and dark street. He barely managed to make a bunch of steps, because suddenly someone violently grabbed him, dragging him inside of a desert small courtyard.

«Unar, curse to you. Are you trying to make me die for fear?»

«What the hell were you doing with them?»

«It is part of my job, you idiot. They have to trust me. And I was trying to collect some information.»

«The orders are clear, direct contacts are forbidden if not strictly necessary. And it doesn't seem to me that you were collecting information if I can.»

«I know how to do my work. So, what do you want?»

«New orders from Castria.»

Marcus sighed: he had decisively underestimated his chiefs' potential: even if they had to cross half of the continent, thanks to various messengers and the Empire's road system it was still possible for them to send communications and orders in barely three months, an archaic but still trustable system to bypass the lack of a direct communication system.

«A new messenger has reached the colony with a special order for you guys of the intelligence division. They say to be ready.»

«Ready for what?»

«It seems that soon the Italians will be able to cross again the Japanese Gate. We got to be ready, because they could bring something for us.»

«What kind of?»

«He doesn't know it. But from now on, the guy is in your care.» then Unas briefly showed him a print of the said guy, a twenty years old or less demi-human male with canine traits, eating the paper immediately after. «He'll visit your home tomorrow evening to receive further orders.»

«Received.»

At that point the two men left in opposite directions, and in a few minutes Marcus reached his house, a simple wooden building close to the eastern wall.

When he entered, everything was dark, but a bit of light came from the slightly opened door of the bedroom.

«Dear?» a sweet voice said. «Are you back already?»

«Yes, Lucia. But I still have something to do. You can go sleep, I'll reach you soon.»

Then, Marcus sat on the table at the center of the main room; he took out some parchments and an inkwell: then, after a brief moment, he started writing.

* * *

 _My name is Marco Vukotic._

 _I was born in Florence thirty-four years ago, and I used to be a freelance journalist._

 _Since when I was just a kid, I've had a natural passion for discovering things and unveil lies, and I turned this passion into a work._

 _As a journalist, I visited the most dangerous places in the world, always believing that the work of a journalist was to tell the truth, no matter the consequences._

 _Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria. There's no place among the ones I visited in the last fifteen years where I haven't risked my life for a good story._

 _But it's just in Iraq that all of my troubles have begun._

 _I was trying to write a story about the lives of our soldiers in a warzone, when while reading some documents that one of my informants had made me found I started noting a strange discrepancy about the effective number soldiers on service in a certain base: the reports said that there were five-hundred soldiers assigned to our training camp in Nasiriya, but instead the amount of supplies sent from Rome was not high enough to sustain all of them._

 _Initially I thought that it was just a common writing error, but I soon found out that Nasiriya was not the sole place where such discrepancy was present: the training bases on Libya, the personnel on service in some of our embassies. Even members of our secret service on work in other parts of the globe: the official number of our military forces on duty oversea was always higher than the effective one._

 _In that moment I was too much excited by this probable scoop to understand in what kind of mess I was getting, and one I came back on Italy I started making questions to the wrong people._

 _To be honest, someone tried to warn me: strange calls, threatening e-mails, even some scary people which sometimes used to silently visit the street where I lived, but I paid no attention: I was even too much used to face inconvenient truths, and I always thought that a journalist's job was to spread the truth, even at the cost of his own life._

 _But I hadn't faced the true meaning of this concept yet._

 _One night, I was returning home after a dinner at the restaurant with my girlfriend Paola along a desert road, when an apparently gentle woman approached me asking for some information about how to reach a certain place._

 _I don't remember exactly what happened, but when I woke up I found myself closed in a white, empty cell, with nothing but a bed and a toilet, and with a security camera carefully surveilling me._

 _For days, or maybe even weeks, I kept on shouting at the camera to release me, that I was just a journalist and that they had no right to do that to me. But no one ever answered, and the more the time passed, the more I felt lost: I was almost sure that there was someone really important behind my captivity, and all those stories about the fate of the ones that arrive too close to the wrong secrets almost made me crazy._

 _I must say it: I was really scared. I didn't want to die._

 _I started saying that I was ready to forget everything, that I would have accepted all sort of punishment in exchange for my life and my freedom._

 _I don't know how much time I spent in that tiny cell, and even now I neither know where I effectively was kept, if in a true prison, in the underground of some government building, or who knows._

 _One day, or one night, who knows it, two soldiers entered in my cell, and in that same moment something told me that my time had come; they covered my head with a hood, dragging me along the place where I was kept for a bit of time, and when they finally made me seat I was more than sure to be in front of someone ready to shoot me._

 _But instead, when the hood was finally removed, I found myself in a new place, some sort of interrogation room, and in front of me there was General Delneri in person, the new Chief of Staff of President Mancuso after General Perdersoli's sudden retirement due to health problems, as the official news had said._

 _I can't say it with certainty, but I'm sure that someone else was watching me from the other side of the magic mirror._

 _Once again, I asked the reason for my abduction, and this time they gave me all answers._

 _In shortly, I had come too close to a very important secret, probably the biggest one in the Italian history. I was about to find out that there was another Gate for another world, apart for the Japanese one, and that the said Gate was nothing but in Italy, hidden in a super-secret base not far from the city of Narni._

 _That was the reason for those strange discrepancies in the official reports: because why the rest of the world was scheming against Japan, and Japan itself still had no idea of what to do with the portal suddenly appeared in the heart of their capital, my country was already at the point of building its new empire in that world._

 _It was something far bigger than anyone could think, and certainly more important than the life of a stupid, too much curious young journalist._

 _But fortunately, as they said, there was a reason for which I was still alive._

 _«We took a look on your status.» Delneri said. «It seems you're good in your job. You're in possess of quite interesting skills. And right for this, we could have an use for you.»_

 _It didn't take long to understand what kind of skills he was speaking of: I was used to visit dangerous warzones all over the world, well-trained in learning and speaking foreign languages, and I was able to care for myself in almost all kind of situations._

 _Our government had no intention to share the resources of the world beyond the Gate with someone else, and reaching an agreement with the Empire was the best way to obtain a hegemonic position against Japan. However, it was necessary to keep the Japanese under eye to be sure that they were not about to reach the same goal, and for this the already settled military expedition had a desperate need of spies to send all over the Special Region._

 _Someone skilled enough to know how to care for himself, capable of integrating without awakening suspicion: someone like me._

 _«You'll serve your Country in the most important moment of its history.» he told me. «You'll be paid for your work, and when all this will become public, you job will be complete. We'll also grant you the exclusive and the right of being the first journalist to reveal our Gate's existence to the whole world.»_

 _But the truth was that much simpler. They could try to seduce me with promises and patriotic chats, but it was an incredibly simple matter: I had to choose between their proposal and that cell, or worse._

 _Obviously, I accepted. I cared too much for my life to play the hero._

 _From that point, my life changed forever._

 _A couple of days later, they moved me in the base built all around the gate, and that was the last place on Earth that I saw._

 _In the following three months, I've been trained to become what they wanted from me to be: they taught me the language, the mores, and gave me the knowledge I could need to move across that world. I was not the sole one: together with me there were even other people, both from my World and the other one. There was even someone like me, poor idiots that had snooped around in something bigger than them, and forced like me to choose between that mission and being found floating in a river._

 _At the end, to make my cover even more credible, immediately after having been sent on the other side they also gave me a wife: she names Lucia. Her family has been massacred by Reich, and her search for protection (or who knows, maybe even for vengeance) has pursued her to put her knowledge as a mage at the serve of Italy._

 _I must be honest: initially I saw her for what she was, a stranger pretending to be my wife, but month by month, while we were traveling across the entire continent, I started to feel something for her, and even if I'm sure someone wouldn't approve, our relationship has become… something more than a simple play._

 _We left Castria when the base was still under construction, with the order to go as close as possible to Alnus. We were almost forty when we departed, equally divided in many groups to avoid undesired attention, and in the following six months we kept on travelling south in all sort of ways: by sea, by earth, sometimes even by air._

 _The commander of my group was Captain Salvatore Zuliani, and together with us there were Earthlings and locals, humans and demi-humans._

 _Initially we took place in Sadera, and some of us are still there, but when we heard that the Japanese were allowing to the locals to move in a growing colony right next to Alnus, Captain Zuliani has started moving us to the new place, leaving Captain Massimo Delsette in command of Sadera's unit._

 _And now, here I am: not even eight months ago I was a journalist in search for a story. Now I am a snake in the Japanese's grab, and the funniest thing is that they're the ones that have come to propose me the work of warehousemen inside the base. Obviously I had been trained right to obtain this kind of results, but I did absolutely nothing to capture their attentions._

 _I know the risks, exactly like I know that will happen if I'll be found out._

 _Italy cannot afford to see its plans revealed, and no one must know about our true identity._

 _The truth is that we're all cursed. When we left Castria, we've been all marked with a spell that is capable to erase all of our memory in the blink of an eye. Each of us has the power to activate the spell of someone else of our group, and orders are that if someone of us is arrested or put under custody by the Japanese or even the Imperial Army, the one holding the kay has to obliterate his memory immediately._

 _No one of us knows the identity of the one controlling his spell, and in this way we cannot kill each other to free ourselves from this curse._

 _I've seen this power with my own eyes. When Walter Baschi, a young rookie youtuber known as Memento has been arrested in Sadera simply because he resembled a well-known murderer, I've seen her mind wiped away in a moment, turning him into a complete stranger with no memories of his past._

 _This could happen to me too, I know it. As much as I know that probably they'll never allow me to return home as I promised. No one knows when, or even if all this will become public, and it's highly probable that apart for the militaries none of us will be left free: probably we'll be simply left to ourselves into this world, to avoid the risk to see all this revealed._

 _Well, this couldn't be as bad as it seems: maybe this world is a bit less comfortable, but life here is incredibly simpler, and Lucia could help me to find my place._

 _But who knows, maybe they'll erase our memory in any case._

 _But if this should happen, I don't want to forget who I was, and so I'm writing this document: in this way, the truth will survive even to my memories, hoping that the day when I'll have to read this paper to remember my true name never comes._

* * *

In that moment, Marcus found himself surrounded in a lovely embrace, providing him some warmth in that cold and moonless night.

«Come on dear, it's late.» Lucia whispered in his ear. «And I feel so lonely in that bed.»

Marcus gently took her hands, smiling.

«Sorry, you're right. I'm coming.» then he went with her after having hidden the papers in a secret hole on the floor.

* * *

Scoleri and Rigamonti had been barely able to enjoy Christmas Holidays, because at the end of January a terrorist attack in Dublin had forced the European leaders and their Defense Ministers to reunite in Brussels as fast as possible.

As always, there were a certain number of advisors and attendants following delegations, and Ivana in particular was not so happy to see Counsellor Theodore Madinier together with the French delegation made of President Mireau, and his First Minister Dupree.

Antoine Madinier had missed two times the appointment as Minister of Economy in both of Mireau's mandates, most probably due to his complicate personal life, but as a former member of the Banque de France he was considered despite this one of the best and most important members of the President's group of advisors.

The two groups met before lunch in the Palais Berlaymont's hall, and while Rigamonti was occupied in discussing with Spain's delegation Madinier went to Ivana with a strange and enigmatic expression.

«Counsellor Madinier, what a pleasure to meet you.» Scoleri said trying to appear as more credible as possible.

«Same for me, Minister.» Madinier replied with the same tone and manner

«By the way, it's strange to find an envoy of the Ministry of the Economy in such meeting.»

«There's always place for economy in this place, Minister. You should know it well.» Madinier answered with a strange smile. «By the way, you come at the right time. I was really anxious to speak with you.»

Usually, when Madinier opened his poisonous mouth to speak about Italy, his words were all but kind, but at least for this time Ivana had the perfect occasion to throw him back his arrogance.

«Today's work has been quite hard, but I'm not so tired for not being able to imagine what you're about to say. And if I'm right, I can spare you this problem. We have no intention to ask your help once again in facing migratory problems, or make request for more time to respect our commitments.»

«And that's what truly amuses me. Your continuous and obsessive requests for delays and support for your migratory problems had become some sort of tradition in such meetings. But now, all of a sudden, your requests have become far more acceptable, and you also demanded for the foreign ships of Triton* to leave.»

«We don't see the reason of having other ships providing help in rescuing operations if we still have to take care of the rest all alone. Plus this, the University of Rome managed to complete a research we had commissioned them years ago: thanks to this new and still experimental technology, we've been able to implement our control over the most used sea routes, and thanks to this we can absolve our duties in sea rescues with less than half of the costs that we were had to face. The money we've been able to spare like this has been used to partially solve other problems in our economy, and so…»

«Yes, I heard it. And I would be really happy to know what kind of research we're speaking of.»

«Unfortunately it's still a prototype put under military jurisdiction, so we're actually speaking of a secret project. But don't worry. When we'll be completely sure of its reliability, we'll be happy to share it with the rest of the world.»

«Speaking of military, it seems you invested a considerably high amount of your balance for military operations around the world. Indeed, at now you're the third most involved nation in international war scenarios in the G7 after United Kingdom and United States. And this is quite strange, if I think that it's been a pain in the ass to make you accept to cooperate both on Libya and Syria.»

«We made some changes in our foreign policy. The current World situation requires different approaches to the problem. And for the same reason, we've also improved the Army's presence in our cities and around any possible target for terrorist attacks.»

«And this is even more incredible. Because you see, even France, Germany and UK have adopted similar policies, but despite this all of our nations have faced dramatic attacks in the last year. On contrary, despite your being the door of Europe and a first-class target cause of the Vatican and many other symbolic objectives, it's almost incredible that this kind of attacks never occurred on Italy.»

«What can I say.» Ivana replied after a long, and somehow apparently worried silence. «It's obvious that we made a fine use of the money we moved from the migrants' emergency to our internal security. Or maybe, we can count on the best secret agents there are.» then she mockingly smiled. «If you want, we can lend them to you for a while.»

The fact that those two were not exactly best friends was not a secret, but obviously in that place etiquette and common sense forced them at least to appear as cooperative as possible; however, at that point it no longer mattered to Madinier.

«Don't play with me, Ivana.» he hissed in her ear in a very threatening tone. «You know me very well, and you know what I'm capable of. I don't know what kind of game you're playing to, but I have everything I need to find it out. And if I should have the smallest suspect that your games threaten my Country or our national interests, you can be sure that deficit bailout or thousands of stinky bastards sat in your ports will be nothing if compared to what I'll unleash upon you.»

A moment later Madinier reached his seat at the table, and Ivana, with the most worried and gloomy light in her eyes, headed to Rigamonti.

«First Minister, we have a problem.»

«Please, excuse us.» Rigamonti said leaving his Spanish colleagues. «So, what's the matter?»

Ivana then silently turned her gaze toward Madinier, and that was more than enough for Rigamonti to understand.

* * *

Almost everyone knew that Counselor Madinier had a problematic relation with alcohol, and in particular with vodka. In over forty years as a compulsive drinker, his awkward passion for drinks had cost him three wives, two complaints and a visit in a community.

During his missions in Brussels, his favorite place was the Potëmkin, a discotheque in Shaerbeek, which as the name suggests it was a Russian-owned, private nightclub for rich people in search for good alcohol and, as someone used to say, pleasurable companies.

Madinier paid a visit to the club immediately after having left free from president Mireau and ordered his usual drink, the first of a long night, but while he was still enjoying it the most beautiful young woman he had ever seen reached the bar counter, an angel of at most thirty years old, with a red, long silken dress, high heeled shoes and a golden bracelet around her right wrist.

Even her wonderful, long hair was red, thousands wires of fire pleasurably descending over her bare shoulders, elegantly regrouped in a simple but elegant hairdo. The eyes were blue, fascinating, and her skin was unnaturally but still pleasurably bright, and thanks to this the makeup on her face shined even more.

The young woman sat at a close stool, and even a speechless barman remained stunned for a long time before beginning to prepare the gin and tonic that she had requested him.

Initially Madinier tried to ignore her, since he still had to recover from his latest failed marriage, but the moment their eyes encountered some sort of hidden knowledge awakened in the counsellor's mind: he had to have her. Nothing else was important in that moment: something inside him started talking in his ear, saying him that he was the best, the greatest girl he could hope to find in all Earth. And she was waiting for him.

At the end, that voice prevailed.

«Good evening, lady.» he said approaching her. «Are you alone?»

* * *

Less than one hour later, Madinier and the nameless woman were exchanging passionate and almost savage kisses in his hotel room, a luxurious suite at the Olivier Hotel's top floor.

Madinier was in heaven. He thought that she was a shy and modest noble girl, but she's proving to be a rampant and ferocious panther in a red dress: her kisses were like the touch of an angel, and her eyes had the power to make him know the ultimate pleasure. It almost seemed that simply looking at her was enough to feel extreme satisfaction, and right for this reason he could no more wait to move on.

«You're a goddess.» he said between a kiss and the other, and immediately after he took off his jacket and shirt.

The woman instead sensually removed her panties from under the dress, and for Madinier that was more than enough to send his sexual desires to their maximum.

When she ultimately lay on the bed, the man immediately reached her after having set up the proper music on the TV, and one moment before he could remove the shoes he was still wearing their eyes met once again.

They were so beautiful, so charming. Madinier was simply unable to ignore them.

The more he continued to look into her eyes, the most he was starting to feel again that strange sensation. Everything was getting so strange, as if the entire room was turning and dancing around him; he almost had the impression that the girl's hair was changing, turning into thick, waving tubes that almost seemed moving like dozens of sinister snakes.

Madinier found himself stuck, frozen and lost in those deep eyes, which suddenly had almost begun to shine in a strange way.

The desire to possess that girl rapidly vanished like a dream, but a new one emerged, as strong as the first.

He got up, and slowly he headed toward the window, totally ignoring the young woman which was still silently looking at him. After having opened it, Madinier stayed for a while to contemplate the wonderful panorama all around him: even if it was almost midnight of a cold winter night, Brussels was shining like a gem in the darkness, and over there in the distance the EU headquarters were the brightest gem. Madinier had dedicated all of his life to Europe, and the birth of a European super state was his greatest dream.

But now, nothing else was important: he didn't know why he was doing that, but he had to do it: his mind was telling him this.

Madinier climbed the balcony, remaining over the railing for a few seconds; then, he let himself fall into the void, while one single tear appeared in his already lifeless eyes.

After a brief moment, an indifferent nameless woman recovered her pants and took a pair of sunglasses from her pochette, wearing them before leaving.

Once left the room, she calmly took the elevator to the lobby, and after having reached the hotel's main entrance she boarded one of the cabs waiting for customers along the road.

«Done?» asked after some seconds the driver, a young man with black hair and Mediterranean appearance.

«Done.» she answered, and at the point the car left, just seconds before a desperate cry echoed from the hotel's spa.

* * *

* European operation in the Mediterranean to surveil migratory routes.


	25. Pactum Sceleris

_**Author's Notes**_

 _Hi my friends!^^_

 _It's been a long a pleasurable vacancy, but finally it's time to put at work once again, and so here I am with a new chapter._

 _Don't expect great things from this update, but don't worry: true emotions will not take much to come._

 _Plus this, I have also an important message._

 _For a brief time (a month, but who knows, maybe even less) this story will be temporarily stopped, because tomorrow already I'll start to work to a pilot for a new, probably longfic of Gate, named The Masters of Sadera, an AU that will rewrite completely all have you known about GATE's history. It will be an historical/political/drama short story (a single and probably quite long chapter) centered around the Imperial Family, both inspired to "Game of Thrones" and the italian TV series known as "I Medici"_

 _I hope you'll make me know your impressions even about this "experiment" once released^^_

 _See you soon!^_^_

 _Cj Spencer_

* * *

24

«Hi, I understand. Please President Mireau, I beg you to accept my deepest apologies for your loss. I'll send flowers to counsellor Madinier's daughter, and you can count on my presence at his funeral of course. Yes… yes… it's okay, mister President. Have a nice return in Paris. Good day.» then Rigamonti closed the phone placed on the desk of his personal home in Brussels, one of the many mansions he owned all around the world. «Here it is. Problem solved.»

But Ivana on the contrary seemed full of completely different emotions, and remained close to the desk with a worried and almost sad expression.

«What's now?» Rigamonti asked. «You should be happy. You made us solve a problem before it could turn into a true nuisance.»

«Yes, but… was it truly necessary?»

«What's the point for such scruples of conscience? You've been the one to report me that brat, remember?»

«Yes… it's just that… I hoped there could be another way? We could have tried to buy for his silence…»

«It would've been useless, and you know it. He was an obstinate, ambitious son of a bitch. To be honest, I dreamed of doing it many times. And I'm sure that Mireau too will be happy of having removed him from concern.»

«By the way…» Ivana said after a long moment of silence, recovering apparently from her worried and discomforted state. «He's the third one already who comes too close to the project with enough power to cause us serious problems. Not to mention that I'm not sure that Kanō has completely forgotten about us.»

«In that case, we'll resort to the usual approach.» replied an incredibly calm and serene Rigamonti. «And as long as we can count on the FASI to take care of such problems, I don't see reasons to worry about that.»

In that moment one of Rigamonti's bodyguards respectfully entered in the room.

«It's all ready, sirs. We can reach the airport whenever you want.»

«Very well.»

At that point, Rigamonti recovered his carrying bag and headed to the exit.

«Come on, we wasted enough time here. I've enough of this place, and there are plenty of things waiting in Rome. Let's go, Ivana.»

«Yes… Mr. Prime Minister…» Scoleri replied following him.

* * *

Kanaria almost fainted reading the document one of her senators had brought her, and even before finishing it she was so shocked that the scroll fell from her hand.

«This… this can't be true.» she was barely able to say. «Are you sure about this?»

«Yes, Your Grace.» the aged senator replied with the same tone. «The message comes directly from the Imperial Palace.»

So, at the end, it had happened.

The Empire had finally accepted the idea that there were wars that they were simply unable to win, and diplomacy was the sole possible way to prevent the most powerful nation in the world from collapsing.

But more than a negotiation to successfully reach a truce, the Green People's first requests were something much more similar to a complete disgrace. Apart for the reasonably demands for trading treaties and other minor things, those over five thousand billions suwani required from the Green People as war retribution were far enough from anything the Empire was able to pay.

That was… simply impossible. They were not the sort of terms anyone would have ever accepted, and no matter how much she thought, Kanaria was unable to imagine just one single senator ready to subdue to such dramatic conditions.

Not to mention that, even if princess Pina in person was the chosen member of the royal family to lead negotiations with the JSDF, as the Green People said they were named, Emperor Molt was definitely too proud to do something so humiliating and less glorious like apologize for the war's consequences.

«This is not possible. There's no hope that the Empire will accept these terms.»

«If I can, your grace, maybe this could happen instead. We've already faced two dramatic defeats against the Green People, and the senators that ask for a truce, no matter under what conditions, are increasing day by day. Given the situation, at least your noble uncle could really decide to carefully consider this treaty, because on the other hand there's still the specter of an unwinnable war.»

Kanaria lowered the eyes, and a sad expression appeared on her face, as if a dark mist of discomfort had suddenly extinguished her usually hot and fierce spirit.

«At this point, my lady, I think there's no more need for General Agrippa to proceed further in search for the Green People's stronghold in the north.»

The Vicequeen hesitated, apparently willing to listen her counsellor's suggestion, and at the end she pointed her magic baton in front of her, opening a mirror of light floating in the air.

Seconds passed, and suddenly Agrippa's face appeared at the center of the mirror.

«Yes, Your Highness?»

«General Agrippa. Where are you at now?»

«Still inside the Empire, My Lady. Our scouts report of strange movements in the Plains, so we preferred to remain inside the Empire as long as possible, proceeding along the borders. Right now we're more or less five hundred miles far from Kosha River and southern Arlea.»

«Listen to me, General. I know that this is a sudden and maybe dangerous request, but I must ask you to reach the closest city and dismiss most of your troops before proceeding further.»

«What!?» Agrippa and the Senator said together.

«Time is against us. You have to take contact with the Green People as fast as possible, and this means that you have no time to move such big army as you're currently doing. Keep with you only the soldiers you need to assure a good protection for the gifts and Senator Valeriano, then keep on traveling toward Arlea.»

«This could be really dangerous, Vicequeen. Even if we're still inside of the Empire, once left Castria we'll be in a foreign land, really close both to the Plains and Reich's boarders.»

«I know it, my General, but some things have happened since when you left Padavium, and now reaching the Green People has become even more vital.» then, Kanaria looked at the ground for endless seconds, and when her eyes turned again to Agrippa, the General was almost stunned by the fire he was able to see in them. «I don't think I'm exaggerating if I say you that the very own fate of all the Empire lies in your hands.»

Agrippa was not able to understand the meaning of such orders, but he had no intention to disobey, not after having seen that light in the eyes of his Vicequeen.

«As you desire, My Lady.»

«Thank you, Agrippa. I'll call you again if necessary. Go with Pluvis' protection.»

* * *

Since when he was just a simple noncom forced to obey the worst orders, Agrippa had never discussed the command chain once in his life, and he had no intention to start right in that moment.

Surely, taking a few men was the best way to make a travel much faster, but it could turn into a really bad idea if the task was to travel full of gold and jewels across a place like the Empire's northern borders, where the Imperial authority was far from being strong.

A couple of days later, the column visited the small city of Dyracchis to resupply and have some rest, and when the General left behind him there were less than half of the soldiers he initially had.

Once left Dyracchis they kept going west for a week, till the final moment when the storms from the North became so powerful that Agrippa had no choice but order to stop and mount a fortified camp in a small valley close to the Kosha's western bank.

The General and his soldiers had barely the time to mount the tents and hoist a small palisade all around the camp, because before sunset a tremendous snowstorm submerged the valley.

«The storm is getting worse.» the General said entering in the central tent and removing the soaked wool coat.

As if all that was nothing for him, Senator Valeriano was still peacefully occupied in writing at the desk, using the faint flame of a lamp to help his old eyes in the process.

«We have no choice but to wait for a better weather before proceeding. It's not a good idea to cross Arlea with such storm.»

«I leave these strategic opinions and plans to your capable decisions, my friend.» Valeriano said without interrupting his work. «I stopped caring of military questions long time ago.»

Agrippa sat at the table and tried to eat something, but he was too tired even for that, not to mention all those thoughts still filling his head with worries and questions.

«You pass all your time filling papers and waxed tablets.» he said as if he was in search for something else to think about. «What are you writing?»

«A chronicle of our journey, of course.» the senator answered with a sarcastic smile. «After all, we're the chosen ones that will save the Empire. I have the sacred duty to narrate our actions so that the posterity will have the opportunity to know what really happened. This is the first duty of an historian.»

It was inevitable. There was no way for Agrippa to forget, even for a small instant, all those goddamn worries.

«I don't understand. I knew that our duty was to reach Castria as fast as possible. But such hurry… it's strange for Her Highness to act in such impulsive and dangerous way. What could have happened?»

«Isn't obvious, my friend?» replied an incredibly calm Valeriano. «The ultimate deadline has been finally crossed.»

A terrifying silence filled the cold tent for a moment, only disturbed by the sound of the storm outside.

«Don't tell me…» Agrippa exclaimed as pale as a ghost. «The Green People have launched their final assault against us?»

«I doubt it. Such tremendous event would not have gone unnoticed, even in these far lands, but we heard nothing like that in Dyracchis. More probably, I suspect that for the first time in our history, the Empire itself have accepted the idea that sometimes only in diplomacy is the key for salvation.»

«They're… negotiating?» Agrippa said in surprise

«Probably.»

«But then, what's the point for all this urgency? If the Empire and the Green People have started talking for true, why the Vicequeen still wants to personally take contact with the invaders?»

«The answer lies in our own history, General.» Valeriano replied before finally putting down the stylus and turning to Agrippa with the most serious and worried expression. «What's the one and only request that the Empire used to make to all those almost defeated nations that request a negotiation?»

Agrippa tried to imagine something else, but there was only one possible answer.

«You think they demanded for our submission?»

«Maybe. Or maybe they've made the kind of requests that no one in this or other worlds would ever accept.»

«But then, what's the point of negotiating? The Green People should already know that there are things that the Empire simply cannot accept. Then, why make the kind of requests that they already know we'll refuse?»

«Because a desperate man is ready to accept all kind of requests, if his own life is at stake. And trust me, I personally know a very high number of senators that value their life far more than things like honor and pride.»

«But there are also many others that will never accept to see the Empire submitted to a barbaric nation.»

«A removed stone can make an entire wall crumble, if it's the right one. For having made such purposes, the Green People must have found someone really important in our political system ready to fully support them. Maybe an influent and respected family, or who knows… maybe even someone more important.»

«Someone more important… you mean… a member of the Imperial Family?»

«It's highly probable. We received no news of a member of the Imperial Family captured or jailed by the Green People, which means that probably one of the princes has publicly decided to support the invaders, pursuing a certain number of senators to do the same. If you want to know my opinion, I point on Princess Pina. Under that pretty face she hides an outstanding ambition. Who knows? Maybe she sees in supporting the Green People her personal way to the throne.»

Once again Agrippa remained silent for many seconds; as a human being he could almost understand the efforts to protect the innocents from a devastating war, but as a soldier and a proud citizen of the greatest nation of the world he was not able to accept the idea to see his beloved Empire sold as a whore by greedy people that only cared for their own interests.

«Negotiations or not, the Emperor is the sole one with the power to accept or refuse such agreement, and if it's really as you say, he'll never do it.»

«Correct. And so we'll be in war again. But at this point, this will have no more importance for the Green People. Maybe they're some sort of demigods blessed with the most obscure and powerful magic force ever known, but deep in their bones they're still humans. All they want is power, and if they're as smart as I think, they already know that they would earn nothing from an Empire reduced into dust. But now, they have what they wanted: someone to support. All they have to do, is to assure that the ones which sustain the negotiation can reach the proper position to accept their terms.»

A shiver ran across Agrippa's spine. If things were destined to go as Valeriano was thinking, then the upcoming fate of the Empire could be summed in just two words.

«A… civil war!?»

«This is the fate waiting for us. And we can do nothing to stop it. But we can still try to change this drama's finale. And that's why we're here.»

«But… how?»

«If Her Highness has ordered us to proceed even faster with our mission, this means that she had probably already reached our same conclusions, and since I've been her teacher, I think I know what she's planning right now.

After all, the law is clear: in time of civil war, the Vice kings of the North and the South can obtain total control of their dominions, as long as they swear their loyalty to the Emperor. This means that when we'll reach the Green People in Castria, Lady Kanaria will be allowed to speak no more as a Vicequeen, but as the sole Ruler of one-third of the Empire. Not to mention that her blood lineage with the Imperial Family will be one more element at her favor to properly negotiate in the name of the entire nation.»

«But as you said, she must swear her loyalty to the Emperor to obtain complete power over the North. In this way, she'll be officially sided with the enemy of the Green People. Why in the world they should listen her?»

This time, Valeriano waited long before answer, as if the response was difficult to face even for him.

«It's quite simple. She'll give them something they could value far more than a puppet emperor.»

It was a matter of seconds for Agrippa to fully understand, and then the General's expression became as dark as the senator's one.

«A… political marriage!?»

«I suppose she was considering this opportunity since the beginning. A puppet Emperor could be difficult to accept for a people like our, with a concrete risk of riots and insurrections, and I'm sure someone among the Green People is aware of this. They're in search of a way to control and influence the course of the Empire: she'll provide it for them. Probably she'll offer herself to marry one of their princes, or who knows: maybe even their Emperor. In this way, all people involved will have what they want. Molt will keep his throne, peace will be reached, and the Green People will become part of our elite.»

Agrippa was so shocked that he almost fell on his stool, silently looking at the ground while his hands started to tremble.

«Holy Hardy… what are you doing, Kanaria?»

«Do you understand what this means, General?» Valeriano said severely looking in his eyes. «Your Vicequeen will sell her body and soul to those demons for the sake of the Empire. This is the Ruler you're called to serve.»

* * *

The philological work to reconstruct the story of the Empire was proving to be far more difficult for Sadee and professor Radoni than expected.

Not to mention that most of the supposed historians of the past had proven to be in truth nothing more than pitiful, imperial-centric ballad singers, but most of the works of the most respectable and trustworthy ones had been almost completely destroyed, often reduced to a bit of fragments or even just the few cryptic glossed over reports from someone else.

Obviously it was not easy to work while Calibria was under siege, but at least that was a good way to forget the city's problematic situation of that moment, and for Radoni especially there was nothing as a bit of work among books and codes to find her place.

Day by day, she was taking confidence with the still unknown aspects of her changing body: apart for the gorgeous curves and incredible fighting abilities, the Warrior Bunnies were blessed with exceptional physical resistance, and thanks to this Radika was now able to endlessly work even for three days without problems; not to mention the fact that having been capable to preserve her knowledge and mental ability from being altered by the spell she could combine those two aspects perfectly, with great surprise of her own companions.

On contrary Sadee, despite her usually insatiable thirst for knowledge and new discoveries, after all that work she was more and more pursued to believe that maybe it was simply impossible for them to success in something that even the greatest among the historians had never been able to do.

«I'm starting to fear that this is a lost cause.» she ultimately said, exhaustedly leaving her face collapse over one of the many among books, notes and other things filling the massive table of the library. «I mean, the best historians of this world are trying to reconstruct the history of the Empire since the most ancient times, how can we hope to succeed in just a bunch of months?»

«They didn't have our knowledge and our scientific approach.» Radika replied without stopping to take notes. «Think about it. We're working on it just by a month, but we're already been able to reconstruct almost one thousand years of Imperial history. Now we know for sure that Sadera's Bay has not been the first birthplace of the future Empire, and that the same Sadera has become the Empire's Capital only six hundred years ago.

The first known capital of the Empire has been Tarpis, a now abandoned city in the Rho Valley, which according to the Grand History of Licetus from Xyn has been founded one thousand years ago. If both the city's history and Licetus' thesis about the existence of an even more ancient capital North of Tarpis are true, this would be the proof that the Empire's roots are much more close to Castria than whatever historian has ever imagined.»

Seeing the concentrated and passionate glance of his anciently naïve student, Sadee smiled in amusement.

«It's incredible how many efforts you're putting in this work, even more if we consider the situation where we find ourselves actually.»

«I'm here for this.» she seriously replied. «It's the sole contribution I can give. Plus this, if Reich should been able to enter the city, they would probably destroy this place. So, if I can complete this research, maybe a small part of the knowledge stored here will still be able to be saved.»

«Well, if Reich will breach the city…» Sadee replied both in a sarcastic and cheerful way. «I think that saving knowledge could become the last of our problems.»

«If heritage dies, so do the memory of that people. And if memory dies, a people simply vanish from history, as if it had never existed.» Radika said turned to her. «You said it to me, remember?»

Sadee was still trying to completely remember that day at the university, when a noise of footsteps, followed by sad sobs, made them turn to the same directions.

Seconds later, a crying Medea appeared in front of them, firmly holding a small and apparently old notebook while tears followed to drop from her lowered eyes. The moment she saw her, Radika had a strange and unfamiliar sensation, and something told her that bad news were coming.

«Medea…» Sadee said

«I… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… professor Radoni. I… I had no idea…»

Sobbing, she handed the book to Sadee, which almost immediately passed it to Radika. The pages were yellowed with time, and it was handwritten, but despite the bad state it was still fully readable.

* * *

 _Our rulers are blind._

 _To counter the lack of men, our races has become accustomed to mate with males from other species, but the obstinacy of the royals to accept only pure males to generate an heir is leading our people to the most complete madness._

 _The tribes fight each other for the males, hundreds of warriors die every day so that their royals can mate, all this in the name of an old tradition written when our people was much more prosperous and powerful._

 _That's why I started this research. If there were not enough males in our people, then there was no choice but create them._

 _I started making research in metamorphic magic, and in order to do it I reached the point to accept living here in this school, sacrificing the wild spirit of my race in the name of my mission. The knowledge hidden in the library has been very useful, but since the beginning the lack of results has become habitual._

 _First I tried to change some voluntaries among our women, but without results, then I moved my target to the humans, which are notoriously the most similar to us among all species._

 _However, no matter how I tried, even before reaching the point of testing the spell on a human being, all forecasts kept on showing that even if I could successfully turn a human being into a warrior bunny, this also involved almost surely a change of sex from male to female._

 _I tried countless variations with the potion, but all of the three times that I finally had courage to test it on three of my students, I always obtained their turning into female warrior bunnies._

 _As if it were not enough, the potion has proved being able to alter one's personality, filling his mind with the best of our knowledge and heritage, but wiping away at the same time all previous memories, at the point that in a short time he reaches the point to forget almost completely who he was before transforming._

 _Fortunately this seems to be a potentially curable side-effect. In fact, while two of my students had completely forgotten their old life as humans, the third one has been able to remember almost everything about him and his previous life. Obviously this is just an hypothesis, but I reached the conclusion that if one's will is strong enough, then he can still be able to make coexist his old and new self, but this is nothing but a mere consolation if compared with the undeniable truth that I've failed._

 _Of course, when I understood that my research was destined to go nowhere, I immediately tried to create a counter-potion to reverse the first one, because I couldn't allow my students to spend the rest of their lives in a form and a way different from their original ones, even if they had volunteered for this; only to find out really soon that it was a mistake unable to be repaired._

 _A dramatic and drastic change both in mind and body is not the kind of thing that a living being can face two times in his life: the result would be death, no matter what precautions one can take._

 _Maybe this is the proof that our species has reached the point where a dramatic change in our culture is the sole thing still able to save us from extinction._

 _After all, I cannot accept the idea to destroy someone's life just to provide a mate to our queens._

 _I've already destroyed all my notes here in the school, but now that I'm really old I don't have the energy to come back to my tribe and destroy even my initial researches still housed out there. All I can do is hope that no one will be able to translate the code I used to write them._

 _Please Gods, forgive this humble servant for her arrogance, and make that no one can repeat my mistakes._

* * *

Radika raised her eyes from the book, silently looking the void in front of her, emotionless like a statue.

«I'm sorry, Master Radoni!» Medea cried falling on knees to the ground. «I had no idea of… of this. Please, forgive me… I… I'll understand if you should decide to kill me. After all, I deserve it. I was a just a little idiot playing with something bigger than her. So… so…»

For endless seconds not a sound echoed in the entire library.

Then, calmly and with no apparent trace of human emotion, Radika got up from her chair, ignoring Medea literally kneeled in front of her and directly heading toward the stairs.

«Giuseppe…»

«I need to rest a bit. Please Lady Sadee, regroup my notes and make me found them rewritten on pc by tomorrow. Good night.» said this as she left the room.


	26. Viribus Unitis

**_Author's Notes_**

 _Hi to everyone!^^_

 _Sorry for delay, but preparations for Lucca Comics and the same event took almost all of my time during the last month._

 _Being hones, the chapter was almost finished by the end of october, but the last paragraph has been quite difficoult to write, at the point that I deleted it when it was almost finished to start it over again._

 _By the way, I'm back, and I'll post a new chapter as soon as possible!_

 _Stay tuned!^_^_

 _Cj Spencer_

* * *

25

«Is something wrong, my dear?» Tyuule asked.

Since her arrival in the world between worlds, Radika did nothing but remain sat on the lake's banks, silently looking in front of her with a strange, apparently lost glance.

«What!?» she confusedly said

«Your mind is here, but I feel your heart is far away. Are you worried? Maybe I can try to help you.»

Radika hesitated for a long time before answering.

«My queen… you remember last time, when I told you that something important could change in my life?»

«Of course I remember. It seemed a serious matter, because you seemed really worried about it.»

«Well… it seems that this change has already happened, before I could notice. I tried to not think about it while I could. I knew that this change was happening, but in my heart I kept on hoping that I could reverse it somehow. But today, any hope has faded away. My life has changed forever, and there's no way for me to come back.»

Tyuule waited a moment, then she smilingly sat in front of her, while a pleasurable wind started blowing all around.

«However, this doesn't seem bothering you like before, or not?»

«What!?» Radika said in surprise

«Last time you spoke about this, there was fear in your eyes. Now instead, I see you're worried… but there's no fear in these fierce, beautiful eyes.»

There was some truth in those words, and was useless for Radika to try ignoring them.

«What can I say.» she said melancholically smiling. «As I told you, deep in my heart I was well aware that somehow there was no return from this point. For this, instead of forcing myself to believe that I could still revert the change and come back to my old self, I ended up unconsciously accepting that all I was still able to do was to always remember who I was, and it seems I've succeeded.»

Radika felt a wave of heat when Tyuule's hand touched her cheek, finding herself unable to look away from her.

«My queen…»

«You're what I always dreamed to see in a true Warrior Bunny. Boldness. Power. Audacity. Heart. You haven't escaped the demon that was devouring you. You fought it, and now you won. I would like to have your same bravery.»

«Don't say like this, Your Grace.» she vigorously replied. «You're strong. You faced all sorts of humiliations to save your people.»

«I was just a naïve. I thought Zorzal was an honourable man. I thought that selling him my body I could be able to save my people, but I've been tricked like a total idiot. And now here I am, a whore in the hands of a bastard.» then Tyuule caressed Radika's cheek once again, provoking her a new wave of fire deep in her heart. «But when I see you, my soul is partially relieved. Because looking at you I see the proof that maybe somehow the best part my people still lives, despite everything.»

Suddenly, as always, everything around them begun fading, since both of them were about to wake up.

«My queen…»

«See you soon, my dear. I'll wait for our next encounter.»

* * *

Radika awakened when the noises of the battle became so high to reach her room at the school, and she immediately ran to open the window, finding the usual, devastating spectacle.

Just pretending to survive against such monstrous army by remaining closed behind the walls was simply utopic, because even if the siege cannons had been destroyed the enemy was still able to deploy an entire divisions of trebuchets, not to mention that there were not enough arrows in all Calibria to kill the entire Reichian army.

However, even a direct assault was clearly excluded, because the difference in numbers was so great that neither the well-known and fearsome Theros' Guard was enough to compensate this situation; so, the only possible thing was to launch continuous and furious assaults, engaging brief battles to kill as much enemies as possible before retreating again behind the walls. The losses were consistent, but according to the plan this was the sole possible way to gain enough time for the reinforcements from Castria to come, because excluding few ones everyone in the Royal Council simply couldn't win that was all alone.

However, there was something incredibly dramatic in that situation: for some reasons, it was almost impossible for the Calibrians to find the enemies unprepared; both attacking on day or night, shouting to create terror or making silence, the Reichians were always ready to repel all kind of assaults, exactly like that morning.

From the top of his war horse, Aristhes was fighting like a tiger, slashing and piercing countless enemies all around him, but after having killed one more enemy soldier, looking all-around he immediately understood that the situation was really bad.

The assault launched immediately before dawn was supposed to break an unprepared enemy line and open the way to Reich's first camp all around the ruins of Hardy's Throne, but even before being able to cross half of the no-man's land the Calibrians had found the 3rd Panzerdivision, the Elite of Reich's defensive troops, waiting for them.

Considering Calibria's situation, and encouraged by the arrival of Heraclyus and his cavalry, the General had commended to attack anyway, hoping to have enough force at least to reach and destroy the trebuchets; however, their offensive stopped almost immediately, crushing against the Panzerdivision's massive shields, behind which other soldiers equipped with lances and daggers were ready to pierce the Calibrians in any moment.

And right when the first enemy line seemed about to start collapsing due to the Calibrians' push, a new wave of light infantry appeared from the right flank, and before being able to change their formation Aristhes and his unit found themselves almost surrounded.

«My General!» Heraclyus said reaching Aristhes. «They're overwhelming us! We must retreat as long as we can still do it!»

Aristhes looked all around him, finding nothing but a desperate situation; the frontline was about to collapse, and it was just a matter of time for the flank to face the same fate.

The battle was lost.

«Retreat!» he ultimately shouted. «Fall back!»

«Return to the city! Return to the city!» Heraclyus shouted, and the other Captains did the same.

Then what was left of Calibria's army started running toward the city, and with no hesitations Reich's commanders ordered to follow them.

On the walls, Symaras and his archers were taking the guard, and when the Captain saw Aristhes and the others retreating he immediately gave the alarm.

«Open the gate! Archers, ready! Cover our allies!»

The doors opened, and a second group of defenders took position immediately outside to protect the entrance.

«Captain Lunardi!» Symaras yelled

Lunardi, Rizzoli and six other ones had placed their mortars on the top of the now abandoned tower, and under their Captain's command the soldier immediately took the bombs out of their cases.

«Mortars ready Sir!» Amato said

«Ready to fire! Wait until they're in the archers' range!»

The Calibrians kept on running as fast as they could, and despite seeing the archers and the singing people waiting for them on the top of the walls the Reichians didn't stop following them, ultimately reaching both the arrows and the rocket's range of fire.

«Fire!» Symaras and Lunardi shouted at the same time.

The panzerdivision's massive shields and armours were more than enough to protect them from a bit of arrows, but there was nothing they could do against a rain of rockets falling from the sky. Before Reich's troops could reach one hundred yards from the walls tens of explosion deflagrated among them, and even if at least they were used to such events their advance suddenly became slower and much more hesitant.

Thanks to this, Aristhes and his men successfully managed to reach the city almost untouched, and as the doors closed once again Reich's army stopped its already difficult advance.

«Rückzug! Geh zurück!» the officers shouted.

At the point enemy troops stopped and retreated rapidly; another battle was over.

* * *

«It's no use!» Kleytos said beating the table of the war room. «No matter what we do, they're always one step ahead.»

«How many soldier we lost?» demanded a discomforted Dyomedes

His dark tone and pale eyes were the same for the entire war council; after all, that morning's one was not the first lost battle they had to face since the start of the siege.

«There's been almost three hundred victims, especially among our cavalry.» Heraclyus answered.

«I don't understand.» Aristhes said. «This assault has been kept secret till the last moment. Even our officers have been informed barely yesterday evening. How's been possible for Reich to know our plans?»

«The city is full of spies, we know it for sure.» Kleytos said. «Who knows how deep in our ranks they were able to arrive.»

«Gods know how I would like to kill them all.» Deiphobos protested. «I swear I'll make them pay for this insult.»

«With all respect my king» Pharmenon said. «For now we must think to protect Calibria from being invaded. We'll think to the rightful vengeance in another moment. But as long as the enemy will be always able to predict our moves, our hopes for victory will be minimal.»

Everyone then turned to Lunardi, which since a while used taking part in their meetings.

«What's your state, Captain?» Aristhes asked

Flavio remained silent for a while before answering.

«Reich is well aware of our weaponry's power, that's why they haven't deployed their trebuchets yet. Our mortars can shot almost a mile away, the trebuchets on the opposite can barely reach seven hundred feet. However, every time we use bombs to cover your retreat, the Reichian army keep on advancing even knowing that we're more than able to wipe them away, stopping their advance only after one or two of our attacks.

They know that we don't have much ammos, and they're clearly forcing us to use them, so that their siege weapons can approach the city and destroy the walls.»

«What do you mean?» Anthelea said. «That we should stop launching assaults?»

«I fear this is not an option. Of course this could help us in preserving our bombs for a while, but sooner or later they'll end up in any case.»

«Damn it!» Heraclyus shouted in anger. «If just we could destroy those trebuchets!»

«Unfortunately, as long as the enemy know our moves, no plan will succeed.» Pharmenon commented

«By the way, I truly don't understand.» Phyleos said. «Both the walls and doors are guarded day and night, and my soldiers are constantly on patrol. How is possible for their goddamn spies to report our plans outside?»

«I heard of strange magic items used by Reich to communicate.» Anthelea said after a brief hesitation. «I always thought they were just voices, but now…»

«What!?» Aristhes shouted. «You should've said it before, lady Anthelea!»

«As I said, they were voices. Something like this shouldn't exist.»

Hearing those words, a suspect blinked in Lunardi's mind.

«Wait a minute, maybe…» and said this he took out his radio, putting it on the table. «I suspect this could be the answer.»

«What!?» Kleytos replied.

«You already know this device from our world, gentlemen. We use it to communicate each other at a great distance in any moment.»

«Yes, you told us.» said Aristhes. «And so?»

«It's highly probable that even the ones that founded Reich seventy years ago had something like this with them.

This is just an hypothesis, but maybe their magicians have been able to create some sort of magical instrument capable of doing the same thing.»

The member of the council looked each other, truly worried.

«Wise Pharmenon, is this truly possible?» Symaras demanded

«This should be something beyond our current magic knowledge. But if they truly had something specific to study, maybe…»

«If it's true, guards and patrols are useless.» said Phyleos. «Anyone in this city could be a spy.»

«Order your guards to mode out immediately!» Arishes commanded «I want you to search in every single house, home and hole of the city! That they confiscate any single magical instrument they find!»

«Yes, General!» replied the unit's commander that immediately left to give proper orders.

However, the council's sentiments were still poor of morale.

«Even sending every single guard in search for these supposed magic instruments, they'll need days or more to search the entire city.»

«This is all we can do for now. From now on, we'll have to be even more careful.»

«What can we do that it has not been done already?» replied Kleytos

«My king.» the General said turning to Deiphobos «My suggest is to stop meeting here. There's a concrete risk that the palace too is filled with spies. We should reunite in a different place every day, even outside the palace if necessary.» then he turned again to the other commanders. «And regarding you, just avoid speaking of private affairs with anyone, including your most entrusted advisors.»

«But if we do something like this.» Heraclyus said. «It will become even more difficult to coordinate and plan our operations.»

«We don't know where our enemies' dirty hands have arrived. Giving the situation, we cannot exclude that even someone of our relatives and more entrusted fellows has been corrupted.»

«Let's do it.» ultimately said the king. «General Aristhes. I entrust you the task of choosing the place for our daily meetings.»

«As you wish, Great King.»

«The place will be communicated to the rest of the council one hour before the meeting by servants that will be put under constant surveillance by my personal guard and jailed for three days after that. In this way, even if they're corrupt they'll not be able to communicate with the Reichians and inform them about our plans.»

«A wonderful idea, my Lord.» Kleytos commented

«Those filthy bastards think being smart. Let's prove them that we're even smarter.»

«That's all, my friends.» said Aristhes «I want our ranks regrouped and restored before sunset. You're dismissed.»

The Commanders then started leaving, but before Lunardi could do the same Aristhes put an hand on his shoulder.

«Wait, Fabio.»

«What's the problem?»

The young General however waited until there was no one else apart them and King Deiphobos was still in the room, then he called him back to the war table.

«There's something we want to speak about with you.»

* * *

Since the start of the siege, the Falcon-1 had left the too exposed tower moving into a separated group of rooms directly into the royal palace.

Apart for this, everything was the same as before: bedrooms for men and women, a kitchen and a control room used for briefings and as guarded armoury.

During day, most of the soldiers were assigned on patrolling the walls and streets, while a small number of them was left in the HQ constantly trying to contact Castria by radio, regrouped into three teams that used to switch turns during the course of the day.

After an entire morning spent on switching radio frequencies in search of a way to call the base, Brugnoni was more than impatient to go to sleep. However, when he left the radio room for heading his cot, he found Tassoni putting some water and supplies into his pocket.

«What are you doing?»

«I'm going make one more patrol on the city. I take some provisions.»

«Right now? You just came back from the frontline. I can't believe you don't wanna sleep a bit.»

«I'm not sleepy.» he briefly explained.

Since Tassoni was not the kind of man capable to deal lightly with something so difficult like killing dozens of men with his mortar, even considering that was one of the few ones of the squad that had never seen a warzone in his life before that, Brugnoni just thought that mama's boy simply needed a bit of time to accept the burden of having killed for the first time.

«As you want. Just try to not exaggerate.»

«I'll do it.»

«One more thing. The Captain has called a briefing for this evening at seven. Just try to return on time for rest a bit if you don't want to fall asleep in front of him.»

«Don't worry. I'm more than able to take care of myself.» Tassoni replied with unusual vehemence before leaving.

* * *

It was not easy for a prostitute to find work in times of war.

Immediately after the start of the siege, all food and water of Calibria had been put on common by the army, and given the circumstances it was not uncommon for all demi-humans, and not only for Parna, to receive far less than the rest of the inhabitants, or even nothing.

For a bit of time Parna had used her work to gain something more from her usual clients, but for each day the reserves became exhausted it was increasingly difficult for her to find something to eat, and most of the people had no more intention to share their already poor ration.

That day, after yet another line made in vain due to a bastard racist guard, Parna was returning home with her belly screaming for food, but moments before opening the door her exhausted but still careful ears felt a strange noise on the inside, and a pleasurable smell passed right under her nose.

When she opened, Tassoni was carefully stirring the dense yellow soup.

«I'm sorry.» she embarrassedly said. «The door was opened, and…»

«What are you doing here?»

«I heard the rumours about discriminations in food distributions. This is not the best lunch you can find, but it's all I've been able to take from our storage.»

«If I remember correctly I've already said you that I've no need for your help.» Parna tried to say, but her belly's noise betrayed her. «Shit…»

«Come on, stop being so stubborn. It's almost ready, just sit and wait for me.»

Unable to answer, Parna obeyed like an obedient little girl, and minutes later a bowl full of soup was put in front of her; maybe it didn't look good, but the smell was truly marvellous.

«Potatoes and beans soup. I put a bit of meat too.»

Parna insisted that he too should have taken a bit, and despite his initial objection sometime later they found themselves face to face at the table; however, while Parna immediately started devouring her portion, Tassoni hesitated, and looking in his eyes the warrior bunny had no problems in understanding that he was quite worried and discomforted.

«What's the problem?» she asked

«N… nothing.» he pitifully tried to minimize

«Who's the stubborn now?»

Tassoni at that point lowered his eyes.

«There's been a battle today. A serious battle.»

«And so?»

«We used our weapons to stop the Reichians from reaching the walls. Many of them died.»

«It's war. People die every day in this world in such conflicts.» said a pragmatic Parna

Hearing such words Tassoni became if possible even more depressed.

«I never killed anyone before reaching this world. I neither wanted to be here, differently from my brother.»

«You have a brother?»

«He's in the Army too. When we heard of this mission, he was so thrilled that he volunteered for it. I didn't, but he's been refused, while I on the contrary have been chosen for the mere fact that I used to mount the guard at the gate even before it opened.

I knew that there was a concrete possibility of being called to fight and kill, but…»

There was a time when Parna would laugh of such stupid things, but this time something in her heart pursued her to make nothing more than a simple, not too much sarcastic smile.

«You are, and I'll never tire of saying it, the strangest guy I've ever seen. You're a soldier even if you're afraid of killing, and you keep on visiting a whore's nest even if you don't want have sex with me.»

«And I'll never tire if saying that you shouldn't think to yourself only as a whore.»

«What do you mean?» she replied in surprise

«I heard rumours about a warrior bunny missing an ear that uses visiting the poorest families of the city, sharing her already poor rations with them.»

Parna's face immediately turned red, and she turned her eyes to avoid looking in Tassoni's.

«You're just boring, flat-cock, useless son of a bitch. I will no longer stay to hear you.»

«And you're just an immature little girl who is believed an adult.» he replied with the same, powerful tone.

At that point Parna grabbed a knife from the table, menacingly pointing it against Tassoni, that fearlessly stood still severely watching her.

«You're going too far, human. Don't forget who I am.»

«You're just an idiot girl who strives to believe that this is the life she wants. You can try to hide your true self behind this mask, but you cannot lie to yourself.»

Everything remained still for endless seconds, while Parna's hand holding the knife started trembling.

Suddenly, someone knocked ad the door, and a disgusting, croaky old voice came from the other side.

«Ohi, sweetheart. I have a bit of food with me. Do you want it? I make you the usual price.»

«Of course.» Parna arrogantly replied after an unusual long silence. «I'm coming.»

However, before she could head at the door, Tassoni violently grabbed her from behind.

«Stop this madness!»

«Let me go, bastard!» she replied trying to release herself, with very less efforts being honest.

«I'll not do it. I'll not let you ruin your life more than that!»

In a few seconds their supposed fight became less and less ruthless, but no less vehement. Parna's fight to release turned into a way to grab herself her jailer, while Tassoni's efforts to hold her firmly became almost a desperate attempt to preserve his dominant position, and before she could try avoiding it they violently kissed.

As a wolf falling over her prey, Parna jumped on Tassoni, riding him with her long and strong legs strongly closed around his belly; Tassoni was barely able to reach the bed walking backwards, overturning the table on the process, before they started undressing each other, while the man outside, hearing more than eloquent noises, had no choice but leave.


	27. Vae Victis

**_Author's Notes_**

 _Hi to everyone!^^_

 _Sorry for delay; this chapter has been more difficoult than expected, not to mention that I had few free moments to write on preace._

 _I hope you'll enjoy it, even because we're not far from the end (I suppose that we'll reach 35, maybe 38 chapters at maximum)._

 _If I'll not be able to post one more chapter before Christmas, which is highly probable, my best wishes from now on for a happy holiday!_

 _See you soon!^_^_

 _Cj Spencer_

* * *

26

When Tassoni woke up, naked and still exhausted due to the three and more hours of passionate sex, Parna was close to him, occupied in portraying him using a lapis and an old parchment, and considering that she was not a professional artist it was quite a good print.

«You're good.» Tassoni said

«I'm just a rookie. When I was in Sadera, I learned painting from the brothel's owner. Everything was good as long as I could earn something more.»

«S… shut up.» she embarrassedly said trying to hide her work.

However, moments later, Tassoni noted that there wasn't much light coming from the opened windows, and once turned behind his back he noted that sun was already at the point of disappearing behind the city's walls.

«What the… what time is it?» then he looked his watch, the sole thing he was still wearing. «Oh, shit. The briefing. The Capitan will kill me for sure.»

Tassoni rapidly recovered all clothes, wearing them as fast as possible.

«Wait.» Parna said while he was still trying to tie the boots.

The young soldier then turned back again right on time to see Parna putting a leather necklace in his hand provided with a small but very beautiful pendant, some sort of azure crystal shard.

«It's a Warrior-Bunny's lucky charm. It will protect you out there.»

Tassoni initially hesitated, but at the end he accepted the gift, and at that point he found himself unable to avoid kissing her again.

«I love you.» he said

Hearing such words she remained stunned for a moment, but after a brief moment of silence she gently touched his nose while smiling.

«What a strange thing to say to a whore.» she joked him. «But I have to admit that it's quite a beautiful thing to hear.»

When the bell rang from the tower of Hardy's temple, the spell was definitely broken.

«Now I truly have to go.»

«Please, be careful out there. I'll wait you here.»

«Of course. I'll come back here as soon as possible, and I'll try to bring you something else to eat.»

«I hope so. Because if I have to do it only with you, I'll need a bit of time to find something else to do.»

* * *

Tassoni came back to the room when the briefing had already begun, and even if Lunardi had no time to scold him for delay he felt truly embarrassed when everyone turned to look him for a moment.

«Where the hell have you been?» Brugnoni murmured to him

«None of your business.» he replied with an unusual annoyed tone, and seeing him hastily hiding a strange necklace under the uniform the unit's cook chose to not insist further.

«As I was saying» Lunardi said again. «For now our top priority is to neutralize enemy trebuchets before going out of ammo. Like this, even if we should be forced to make use of our entire stocks, Calibria will be more than able to resist till the time when we'll be able to call for reinforcements from Castria.»

«But how can we do it, Captain?» Rizzoli demanded. «At the moment those monsters are too far even for us.»

«There's only one way to do it. And that's to do act like we did to destroy their siege cannons.»

A shocked silence fell over the room, and everyone started looking each other as if they didn't want to believe what they had just heard.

Lunardi wasn't surprised: after all, the earth above Argento's grave was still smooth.

«I don't like to discuss your orders, Sir.» Rocco said. «But you remember that last time that we went outside one of us came back in a coffin, don't you?»

«I know it's a risky plan Rocco, but as long as those weapons will be out there, Calibria will be in danger. Their supply routes are too well built and vast to cut them off, so all we can do by now is to deprive them of anything which can help them to take the city faster.»

«The trebuchets are far from here, and there's an entire enemy camp between us and them.» Amato objected. «Excuse me if I speak frankly, but how the hell can we hope to reach them?»

«There's a secret passage, right under our feet.» Lunardi said turning to the map of the city and indicating the red line crossing half of Calibria. «It's been created to guarantee a safe escape route to the population in case of necessity. The entrance is here, under the main square, and once crossed the walls it returns outside two miles outside the city, less than one mile far from the trebuchets.

We'll not even need to enter the camp. One or two rockets will be more than enough to set everything to fire, including their timber reserves and maybe even most of their supplies, if we consider that the camp's main barn is located two steps away from there.»

«Even if we should be able to reach them from behind, they could still overthrow us in a few seconds.» Stefanini said.

«She's right, sir.» Cassetti said. «Not to mention that they will have definitely increased security around the camp after our last sortie. Their patrols could find and kill us before we can get close enough to the trebuchets to destroy them.»

«That's why the entire city's army will keep the Reichians occupied by launching another full assault to their camp.

Plus this, a special unit of elite calibrian warriors will come with us, leaving the passage for firsts and calling the enemy scouts' attention. While both their frontlines and rearguards will be occupied in facing the Calibrians, we'll have all time to reach Reich's camp and perform our job.

Once done, we'll retreat once again into the tunnel. We'll also blow it down, so that even if Reich should find it, they'll no more be able to use it.»

Lunardi had no problems in understanding why most of his men were not enthusiastic about that plan.

«This is all we can do for now. I will not lie to you, there's no guarantee for this plan co succeed. The enemy could discover us, or Aristhes' attack could prove being not enough to distract them from protecting the trebuchets. Plus this, this time will be really far from any cover, which means no supporting fire from behind. That's why I'll bring with me only the strictly necessary men. And if something should go wrong, we'll retreat immediately.

Is everything clear?»

«Yes sir.» the soldiers replied, most of them with very few emphasis

«Very well. Now let's form the team. Wang. Stefanini. Cassetti. Rizzoli. Tassoni. You'll come with me as the main unit. We'll take the panzerfaust and remaining rockets with us.»

«Yes sir!»

«Amato and Brugnoni. You two will remain on guard close to the entrance. The rest of the squad will patrol the walls as usual, providing support to the Calibrians if necessary. Rocco. You'll be their commander.»

«At your orders, Captain.»

«I recommend you to make sure that the Reichians can see you. They must absolutely not suspect what we're doing. Shoot if necessary, but try to spare ammunitions.»

«When do we start, Captain?» Stefanini asked

«Mission begins at midnight. The chosen ones will spend remaining time here to sleep and prepare for the operation. The other ones will follow their usual routine as always.»

«Do you fear the spies, Sir?» Rocco asked

«The entire city is probably infested with enemy agents, and there are good chances that they found a way to communicate with the rest of the army despite our controls. We don't have to give them reasons to doubt of our behavior.»

* * *

Probably the Reichians didn't expect to be attacked so soon after the tremendous defeat faced by the Calibrians just that morning; for this, when an apparently heartened Calibrian army launched a new attack shortly after midnight, the Reichians had problems in regrouping, successfully taking formation moments before facing the enemies' first assault.

Once again, General Aristhes was at the head of his army, but this time he preferred to remain far from the first line.

«We'll not make a step back.» he said to Heraclyus at his side «We have to keep the enemy occupied as long as possible.»

«We had to mobilize almost all of our army to make up for this morning's losses.» said a worried Heraclyus. «I pray the gods that your plan succeed, or this war might end tonight.»

At the same moment, far from there, in a small and desert road close to the eastern walls, a numerous group of shadows regrouped in front of an old barrack covered in dark and heavy coats.

«Captain Phonicius, at your service sir.» said a young Calibrian officer removing his hood and respectfully saluting Lunardi

«The way is clear, captain.» Lunardi answered. «No signs of human presence within a hundred meters.»

«Very well. Come with me. The passage is right here.»

The thirty men then entered into the barrack, and when the door was closed Phonicius' soldiers removed an heavy boulder of the ground, revealing a staircase descending downward.

«This way.»

The Calibrians opened the way descending for firsts, then Lunardi and his men did the same, and moments later all of them were walking along a narrow and low underground corridor, with nothing but torches to light up their way.

«Ouch!» Rizzoli protested when some water fell right over him from the ground. «Why the hell is raining inside here?»

«We're passing right under the city's main tank.» Phonicius said. «Come on, the way is still long.»

* * *

When Lunardi and the rest of the squad returned outside after an endless walk underground and having climbed a second staircase, they found themselves in the middle of what seemed being an ancient ruined temple.

Judging by the remnants it must had been a magnificent building, but now it was nothing but a bunch of columns and collapsed walls over a marble ground covered in sand and stones and surrounded by low hills.

«What's this place?»

«The old temple of Lysia, the local goddess of Time.» answered Phonicius «It's been destroyed an hundred years ago during the Great Plain Wars.»

Once again it was a moonless night, and turning south you could hear clearly the battle's echoes; Aristhes and his men were holding position with all their might.

«Come on, let's move.» Lunardi said. «Reich's camp is not far.»

Rizzoli then headed toward the southern hill, silently climbing it almost crawling on the ground; then, once reached the top, he raised the head just enough to see beyond, pointing his pocket monocle to the darkness; Reich's camp was so enlighten with bonfires and torches to be clearly visible even without the nightscape, as much as the trebuchets not too far from there, poorly guarded by a bunch of sentinels.

«Target on sight, Captain.» he murmured turning to them. «The way is free.»

A thunderous shot filled the air, and seconds later Rizzoli rolled down the hill with a black hole instead of his left eye, stopping close to the temple's ground and immediately covering in blood the dusty earth around him.

Lunardi and the others were so shocked that they had barely the time to understand what had just happened, because seconds later hundreds of enemy soldiers appeared all around them, and before they could try to do something they found themselves completely surrounded.

«Ambush!» Lunardi shouted.

Only his men's firm training prevented them from panicking, and following their Captain's orders Tassoni and the others immediately reached the closest repair they found. If possible, they wanted to go back directly into the tunnels, but before they could try to do it, the enemies came down even from the hill behind their backs, closing the escape route and forcing them to take refugee behind a ruined wall.

Phonicius and his men tried to form a defense line, but since Reich's army was made almost exclusively by gewhere wielders, three of them were immediately killed when the enemies were still descending from the hills.

«Don't stay outside there, Captain! Take cover!»

The Calibrians obeyed, and a dramatic firefight commenced between Lunardi's team and the Reichians.

«How the fuck could it happen?» Wang shouted «Wasn't this passage supposed being secret?»

Taking advantage from the fact that their enemies were clearly stuck in their hideouts, some of the Reichians, carefully covered by their comrades, quickly reached the passage, and once opened they immediately started overflowing inside of it.

«Shit!» Lunardi said, and he immediately took his radio. «Scorpio to Viper! Rocco, do you hear me?»

«What's happening, sir?» Rocco said from the other side. «We didn't see the flare yet!»

«We've been ambushed! We're surrounded! They're inside the tunnels!»

«What!?» then Lunardi was able to hear his second in command commanding his squad to enter in the tunnels to clean them from the enemies.

However, that was just a temporary solution, because judging from the enemy's numbers it was just

a matter of time for Lunardi and his squad before being wiped out.

Flavio looked at his soldiers, and for a brief moment they stopped shooting and turned to him; even Phonicius and his men did the same, and even if everyone remained silent Lunardi had no doubts of what they were telling to him.

«Listen, Rocco.» he finally said. «You must destroy the tunnels.»

«What!? Are you crazy.»

«If they successfully take them, the city is lost. We cannot allow it. The mission has failed, but we can still save Calibria. Destroy the tunnels now, before they send too much troops inside.»

«I… I cannot do this, Captain. I cannot leave you out there! I…»

«Holy shit, this is an order! Do it!»

Suddenly, a bombazza launched by the Reichians exploded not far from there before someone could grab it and throw it away, and even if Lunardi was able to avoid the explosion countless stone bullets violently hit him, and one of them destroyed the radio.

«Captain, is everything all right?» asked Stefanini

«Rocco! Rocco, can you hear me?» but it was useless, and so Lunardi angrily thrown away the radio. «Shit!»

However, Flavio was sure that the message had been understood, so all they had to do was to keep them at bay as long as possible.

«Do it!» he ordered to Cassetti, more than sure that he already know what to do.

«Yes sir.» he answered, and trying to avoid his true feelings he immediately shot their last panzerfaust against the tunnel's entrance, making it collapse and covering it with debris.

The damage was reparable, but at least this would have given to Rocco and the others enough time to make the tunnels blow completely.

The members of the Falcon looked each other, trying to find in their comrades necessary bravery to face that last, dramatic standoff.

«All right, my friends!» Lunardi shouted, «This is our last stand! If we have to die, let's take as much as possible of them to hell with us!»

At that point, both sides shot everything they had, and in a few minutes, all ammunitions run over.

«Sempre pronti!» Flavio said throwing away the now useless rifle and leaving his hideout while wielding his war knife

«In questo ed altri mondi!» the other replied following him together with Phonicius and his remaining soldiers.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other battlefield, Aristhes and his officers kept on waiting to see the explosions behind the enemy lines that would've announced the plan's success, but after a lot of time nothing was happening, and after the first successful assault now Calibrian's troops were starting to succumb to the enemy pressure.

«Something's wrong, General!» Heraclyus said. «Nothing's happening!»

More seconds passed, but things kept on remain unchanged, and now the frontline was incredibly close to Aristhes' position. The General and his officers looked once again in the darkness, hoping to see the wave of fire erupting from Reich's camp, but all they were able to see was the endless number of enemies approaching them.

«My General, we must retreat!»

«We… we can't!» a shocked Aristhes replied «They'll do it, I know it!»

«At this rate, our troops will be wiped away in a few minutes! I beg you General, call the retreat!»

At the end, when an arrow missed him for a few inches, Aristhes finally understood that keep fighting was useless.

«Prepare the retreat!»

Moments later, from the top of the walls General Symaras and his archers were able to hear and see the trumpeters and flag-wavers calls for an orderly withdraw.

«They're preparing to retreat. Prepare to open the doors!»

«Ignore the order!» suddenly shouted a loud and mighty voice, and in a few moments General Kleytos appeared from the closest tower. «These doors will remain closed!»

«What!? Are you crazy!?»

«The Singing People's mission has failed, and soon the entire Reich's army will be upon us. If we open the doors now, we could no more be able to close them!»

«This is madness! There's half of our army out there!»

«And if we open the doors we'll have lost the other half too, together with the city!» Kleytos replied in anger.

Symaras couldn't believe it.

«Kleytos, gods' mercy, Aristhes and Phyleos are there too! We cannot let them die without trying to save them!»

«They knew the risks of this mission! Now they have to pay the consequences!»

«Kleytos!»

«This is an order! An order of the King!»

Hearing this, Symaras was speechless.

«The… king!?»

«Do you know what will happen if you disobey, right? So, do as I said.»

At that point, when the Calibrians' retreat ultimately started, covered as always by the Singing People's waves of fire, once turned their horses toward the city Aristhes and the others found the doors still closed.

«What are you doing? Open us!»

Symaras silently remained to watch his comrades' run to safety for an endless period, unable to understand what to do: as a soldier and a general, he had spent his entire life obeying to his ruler's words without discussing, and he knew that this was his duty. But as a man, he simply couldn't stay sill and watch so many young soldiers die without trying at least to save them.

«Hell to the orders! Open the doors!»

«Are you crazy!» Kleytos shouted in his face. «I said this is an order of the king!»

«The king can behead me if he wants, I'll not let them die like this!»

Symaras then tried to head at the doors to care for their opening personally, but before he could make a step Kleytos violently grabbed him.

«You little…» he said.

Maybe Kleytos was massive, but Symaras proved being more agile than him, and once avoided the punch, he replied at the same way.

«I… insolent bastard.» said an enraged Kleytos.

Suddenly, when he fell on his knees, a small thing fell from inside his armor, calmly rolling to Symaras' feet.

«What the…»

The general didn't even need to pick it to understand its true nature.

«What… is this!?» he said in shocking

However, Kleytos' face was more than enough to understand; but even like this, Symaras simply could not believe it.

«Kleytos, you bastard…» then he called his archers. «Arrest him! Arrest him now!»

The soldiers were even more shocked, but at a second call, some of them finally obeyed, grabbing General Kleytos and forcing him to get up.

«What are you doing? Let me go!»

«Take him away! And open these goddamn doors!»

Finally, the doors opened, right on time to allow Aristhes and his army to successfully retreat in the city.

«General!» Symaras said running to him. «Are you all right?»

«Yes… more or less.» he replied. «But now, I would like to know what the hell has happened! Where are Lunardi and his squad?»

* * *

Flavio and the others were well trained in close combat, and thanks to their superior defensive jackets they had been able to kill a certain number of enemies, but now both them and their calibrian comrades were at their limit.

They kept on fighting as long as their force allowed them to do it, using both martial arts, their knifes and even enemies' weapons, but no matter how many Reichians they were killing, the enemies simply didn't stop coming.

However, they couldn't die yet, because no echoes of explosion had come yet from the tunnels, which meant that their destruction hadn't happened yet.

«Curse you Rocco, what are you doing?» Lunardi said once sliced the umpteenth opponent.

The Captain looked all around, trying to find his soldiers in that mess of shouts and cries: Stefanini and Cassetti was fighting back on back, covering each other not far from him. Wang was proving why after five years he was still the undefeated champion of the Martial Arts' European Tournament, killing dozens of Reichians with his bare hands. Tassoni had reached Rizzoli's dead body, and was now desperately trying to protect him from Reichians' attempts to loot it. Finally, Phonicius and his men had formed a circle not far from there, and their might was so powerful that most of the enemy soldiers were concentrated against them.

«I fear this is truly the end.»

Instead, suddenly a familiar whistle overpowered all other noises, and a moment later mortar rockets fell upon the Reichians, killing hundreds of them and shocking the remaining ones at the point of making them hesitate.

«What the…»

Lunardi then turned to the hill behind his back, and even if he had accepted his upcoming fate already, he was not exactly unhappy to see Rocco and six of the others above it.

«Come on, Captain! This way! We'll cover you from up here!»

God has chosen to save their life. At that point, the sole thing Lunardi wanted was to assure his soldiers' salvation.

«Come on, let's move! Go! Go! Go! Go!»

Wang and the others immediately obeyed, and Tassoni felt his heart bleeding when he found himself forced to leave behind Rizzoli's body after having taken at least his metal plate.

«Phonicius! You too, come with us!»

However, Phonicius and his men were too far, and completely surrounded by the enemies, because they could be able to break the siege and retreat successfully at the same way.

«Go, Captain!» Phonicius say. «We'll keep them at bay! Save my city!»

It was clear that Phonicius and his men had no intention to follow them, so at the end Lunardi left, reaching the rest of his squad on the top of the hill.

«What are you doing here?»

«Sorry sir. You could court-martial me later if you want. For now, let's get out of here. Come this way, there's a second entrance to the tunnels.»

Phonicius kept on watching the Singing People until they disappeared behind the hill, then he turned once again his attention to the enemies all around them.

«Hardy, take our souls!» he shouted, and immediately his men attacked in all directions.


	28. Abyssus Abyssum Invocat

**_Author's Notes_**

 _Hi to everyone!^_^_

 _As I promised, here I am with a new chapter before Christmas!^^_

 _It's been quite easy to write it, both because I had enough time to do it and most of it was in my mind even before finishing the previous one._

 _We're not far from the end, so I hope you'll enjoy even the remaining ones._

 _See you soon and Merry Christmas!^^_

 _Cj Spencer_

* * *

27

«How did you find this second entrance?» Stefanini asked while running in the darkness

«It seems that anciently the tunnels were part of a silver mine.» Rocco answered, «When the mines extinguished, most of the tunnels have been closed, but this entrance has never been blocked. An old man has told us where we could find it.

Come one, we're not far.»

Shortly before reaching the said entrance, however, Tassoni stopped for a moment when they passed incredibly close to Reich's camp.

The trebuchets were still there, intact, but also incredibly well protected: probably the Reichians were not completely sure that their trap was able to succeed, so they had chosen to put a rearguard in defense of their war machines just in case.

«Tassoni, what are you doing?» Rocco asked when he noted that Mama's boy had stopped running.

No. They couldn't.

Too many ones had died that night to not trying at least to complete their mission.

Niang had still with him his pocket mortar with a single rocket. Without asking or other, Tassoni grabbed it and started running toward the enemy base.

«Stop, what are you doing?» Lunardi shouted «You will get killed!»

But Tassoni didn't listen and kept on running, and when the sentinels finally saw him they immediately tried to shoot him with bows and gewehre.

«You fucking idiot! Come on, let's cover him!»

Flavio and the others then started shooting the remaining cartridges, allowing Tassoni to ultimately reach a low rock.

The targets were still far, but considering the upcoming enemies both from front and behind further proceeding was simply suicide.

He had only one attempt: he couldn't waste it. The young soldier put the mortar to the ground, and trying to fight both his now returning fear and his trembling hand he aimed at the target as best he could, then he ultimately inserted the rocket.

The shot crossed the sky, turning night into a bright day, before hitting the ground almost at the center of the targets; the closest trebuchets immediately exploded, the same as the oil reserves for incendiary bullets, and in this way the produced fire rapidly spread to the remaining ones.

«I can't believe it!» said a speechless Rocco. «He did it!» then the others too, with the sole exception of Lunardi, exulted.

The sight of their siege instruments into dust angered Reich's troops even more, and a certain point even the shouts from the other side of the hill toward Lydia's temple became stronger.

«Tassoni, curse you, come back here now!»

At the point Mama's Boy obeyed, and leaving behind the now useless mortar he started running at breakneck speed with half of Reich's army behind his back.

Lunardi and the others shot until the last bullet, and incredibly, Tassoni successfully returned to them.

«Come on, come on, let's go!»

Finally, whit the Reichians still behind them, the soldiers reached a small hole in the rock, partially collapsed and covered with debris that clearly were removed recently.

«This way, quickly!»

They run almost in completely darkness for a certain time, always pursued by the Reichians that they were able to hear not too far behind them, until when they finally returned to the main tunnels across a small entrance once hidden behind a pile of stones.

The ground was full of dead enemy soldiers: surely, Rocco and the others were forced to face a serious battle to reach and save their comrades; however, Reich's army was still behind them, and was necessary to find another way to make those tunnels useless.

The solution popped in Lunardi's head then they passed once again under the city's tank.

«Do you have a grenade?» he asked to Rocco

«The last one.»

«Give it to me!»

Lunardi took the bomb, and once removed the tongue he put it in a small crevice in the stone.

«Run! Run!»

The grenade exploded in a few seconds, right when a small group of Reich's soldiers was passing down there, and moments later, their partners not far away found themselves submerged by a devastating tsunami that turned the tunnels into an underground river.

Even Lunardi and Rocco nearly drowned, but fortunately, the entrance well was so high that the water took a bit to flood it, so they were able to escape on time.

When Flavio and his second returned outside, Aristhes was waiting for them in front of the shack together with a couple of his soldiers and the remaining falcon members.

«Flavio. Thanks Gods you're safe.»

«The passage… is safe.» Lunardi said while trying to catch some breath after having climbed the stairs the faster he could. «And trebuchets… are history…»

«Yes, I heard it. You saved our city once again.»

The moment he was able to walk again, Lunardi immediately run against Tassoni, violently lifting him off the ground and grabbing him by the collar.

«What the hell was you trying to do? We've been almost killed due to you!»

«I'm… I'm sorry sir. It's just that…»

«We're not in a state of democracy! I'm your Captain! You must follow my orders! What would have happened if we were not able to get out in time? You've put all of your companions at risk!»

«I… I…»

«Captain.» Rocco said in respect. «He destroyed the trebuchets. I think you could forgive him this time.»

Lunardi took a deep breath, and then he finally let him go.

«Don't try it again, you crazy fool.»

At that point, Aristhes headed toward Lunardi.

«I need to talk to you.»

«What's now?»

«Not here. Come. We'll speak at your headquarters.»

«Why? What's happened?»

«Bad news.»

* * *

«Kleytos… a spy!?» Lunardi said in disbelief.

«It's true. We found proofs of his corruption in his rooms. Jewels and gold from Reich.»

«I can't believe it. We knew that some spies might have reached the heart of the palace, but one of the Great Generals…»

«His hate for Reich was only a mask. It seems that he's been hired by the enemy months ago, and since then he kept on sending reports about our defenses and our plans.»

«Now everything has sense.» Rocco commented. «That's why they always knew about our plans.»

«True. And you were right about how he was able to do it.»

Then Aristhes took a small glass sphere out from his bag, putting it on the table. Seeing it', the eyes of someone of them sparkled in amazement, but the others were too much shocked to notice it.

«We found plenty of these magic devices among his things. He had one with him even when he's been arrested. Our mages are still trying to understand how it works, but we know for sure that it's some sort of instrument with which is possible to speak with anyone using the same thing, even miles away. Kleytos and his minions used them even to communicate each other without needing to meet.»

Lunardi took the sphere, carefully looking at it: even if he was not a mage, he was still able to feel a strange energy coming from that jewel.

«Now you know what to search.» Amato commented. «You can find the other spies.»

«We could.» Aristhes replied. «But unfortunately, hundreds of soldiers have witnessed his arrest, and everyone in Calibria knows it already. I've commanded a new wave of searches immediately, but it's highly probable that the other spies have already hidden their magic instruments.»

«So?» Lunardi asked. «What do you plan to do?»

Aristhes took a moment before answering.

«I spoke with Kleytos immediately after his arrest. He confessed his crimes and his role of headmaster of Reich's spies. He knows what he risks, so he's ready to give us his minions in exchange for seeing his death sentence turned into a never ending exile from Calibria.»

«And what do you think about? Will you accept his offer?»

Once again, the General hesitated for a long time, but the light in his eyes was more than eloquent.

«I lost more friends in the latest month than in my entire life. I would break his neck with my own hands if I could. But he's been my mentor and teacher, and I know him. There's no torture that could make him talk. The only thing we can do if we want to destroy Reich's net in the city is to accept his terms.»

Such idea was disgusting even for Lunardi and the others, but as Aristhes said there was no other option; even if both the siege cannons and the trebuchets were down, no attempt to overthrow the fate of the conflict could hope to succeed until the spies remained in the city.

«When will you speak with him?»

«As soon as possible. Tomorrow morning I'll speak with the king. He's the only one with the power to accept Kleytos' requests. Then we'll question him immediately.»

«All right. Make me know if there's something we can do.»

«Don't worry. For now, all you have to do is rest. You've done already more than enough to protect Calibria.»

At that point, Aristhes left, and Lunardi authorized the entire squad to spend the remains of that night in their beds; and even if everyone were still shocked for Rizzoli's fate, too many things had happened that day for not taking at least some hours to sleep.

However, someone didn't seem so anxious to sleep.

«Where's Tassoni?» asked Cassetti

«Probably he's still shocked for Rizzoli.» Stefanini replied. «He's been his mentor when he joined Gate Project, and I heard they were friends even before joining the Army.»

«He'll be all right.» Torrisi replied. «He just needs to stay alone for a while.»

Apparently not everyone in the squad had that same idea, but despite this, when the lights were off, the room became dark and silent.

* * *

The Plains' religion was quite strict regarding funerals and burial ceremonies. One of the most ancient Hardy's dogmas, almost disappeared in the rest of the continent but still strong on those far lands, was that the warriors had to be buried before next dawn, because only like this it was possible for the soul to enter Hardy's realm across the celestial door between Earth and Sky.

So, briefly after the end of the battle, Calibria's streets and squares had immediately turned into a single giant holy ground, with tens of pyres where the soldiers that had been possible to recover from the battlefield were now burning. The préficas' mourns were so high and powerful that even for the few families with no relatives lost in that day's two battles was simply impossible to sleep that night, and processions holding Hardy's simulacrums kept on walking up and down among the streets from pyre to pyre.

Parna stayed at the window like a maiden waiting for her lover's return, desperately trying to move herself to believe that he was not burning in one of those flames.

Suddenly, hearing a noise behind her, the stone on her chest seemed to disappear like magic, and she turned to the closed door unable to understand why she was feeling so happy.

Finally, the door violently opened, but the young soldier appearing in front of her was completely different from the one Parna used to know.

«Simone! You're alive!» she joyfully said.

Nevertheless, when she tried to embrace him, he refused it, angrily pushing her away instead.

«Where is it?» he said filled with rage.

«What!?» she replied in disbelief

Then Tassoni pushed her apart once again, violently starting to turn everything upside down as if he was in search for something.

«I know you have one! Where is it?»

«What are you talking about?» she tried to reply, but he had no intention to trust her and continued his work.

At a certain point, Tassoni turned over a wicker basket full of nuts, and a glass sphere rolled on the floor, leaving both of them speechless and shocked.

«I knew it!» Tassoni said taking it. «You're one of the spies!»

Parna didn't answer, at least not with her voice.

«Now I understand. That's why you came to us. They told you to do it.»

«No they didn't. I went to you because I needed to eat. I didn't even know who you truly were until they told me when the siege has begun.»

Tassoni looked at the sphere once again, unable to understand.

«Why!? Why did you do such a thing?»

When she still refused to answer, Tassoni was no more able to restrain himself.

«What about all those words about being a proud Warrior Bunny? Your honor? Your heritage? Were all bullshit! Because there's no way for someone with honor to become a spy, and especially a spy for Reich!»

«These bastards have let my people die!» Parna finally answer with anger in her voice and tears in her eyes.

A stunned Tassoni looked at her, leaving the sphere fall from his hand.

«This has no sense. It's been the Empire to destroy the Warrior Bunnies, not Calibria.»

«Oh, I heard the story they tell.» she said in sarcasm and despair. «We refused their help. We died for our pride. The truth is that when the Empire attacked the Plains, we literally kneeled in front of Calibria and the other cities for help. But for them, we were nothing more than beasts, and our lives weren't worth neither a single calibrian soldier! So they remained closed in this fucking city and stayed to watch the Empire exterminating us! I saw my mother beheaded, and my sisters raped to death!»

«And that's why you're doing all this?» Tassoni replied after a long and shocked silence. «Vengeance?»

«Do you have any idea of what means being deprived from all of a sudden of everything you had? Forced to leave your homeland for a world where you'll never be something more than a cursed fuck toy! I spent three years praying the gods to see the ones responsible for my clan's destruction suffer my same pain.»

«Do you really think that Reich is better? Do you know what they do to the subjugated demi-humans?»

«I don't care what they do. I wanted to see the Empire and this city burns, and they promised to make my wish come true. They also promised to return all lands conquered by the Empire to their proper owners.

Don't you understand? I could return our lands to my people! I could…»

Tassoni grabbed her before she could be able to say something more, and taking her by hair, he pushed her against the window, forcing her eyes to look again the dozens of fires.

«Look! This is the true value of their promises!»

Once again, the sight of such sufferings violently shocked her, and when her eyes met a young girl, crying desperately for her deceased father, the most devastating memories returned to her mind. In the bling of an eye, she was there again, in her burning village, surrounded by hundreds of beastly Imperial Soldiers, forced to pretend to be dead and helplessly watch her sisters savagery raped, her mother beheaded, her friends mutilated and sold as slaves.

Cold tears came down from her eyes, but this time tears of despair: she had become like them.

«What… have I done!?»

A discomforted Tassoni sat to the bad, the same one where he had been able to taste some of the best moments in his life.

«Wait a minute.» he suddenly said. «How did you know of all this?»

Hearing this, Parna blocked, turning to him with a shocked and terrified expression.

«You could have informed Reich of the upcoming assault at the gate, but apart for Captain Lunardi, General Aristhes, the king and we of the squad, the plan for destroy the trebuchets has been kept secret till the last moment. Then how did the Reichians get to know about it?»

A tremendous suspect came to him, and Parna's eyes were more than enough to confirm it. Almost hoping to be wrong, the young soldier took out the pendant, and the moment he put it close to the sphere both jewels begun shining.

«No… no…»

«Please, please, you must believe me.» Parna said kneeling in front of him and taking his head among hands. «I didn't want to do it. But someone of the other spies told them that I had been able to get close to you. So they asked me to make them report of your movements. I tried to postpone is as long as I could, but…»

Tassoni's slap was so powerful that Parna found herself to the ground before knowing it, and when she looked again on him, his eyes were full of rage.

«Do you have an idea of how many young ones have died tonight? I lost a friend and a comrade out there!»

«They left me no choice! They said this was the last thing I had to do to fulfill my duties! I didn't want to do something like this, but they were becoming suspicious.»

«You have used me!» he said smashing the pendant into pieces. «I trusted you! All those things you said me! They were only lies!»

«No, they weren't! I swear! Please, believe me! You've been the first one in years to treat me kindly, I never wanted to betray you. How could I imagine that you were planning something like that?»

Tassoni's rage rapidly turned into desperation, and for countless seconds both of them remained silent.

«I'll not blame you if you should decide to hand me over the guards. Anyway, I suppose that this will change nothing. I heard of Kleytos. For how I know him, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to sell all of us in exchange for his life.

Given the circumstances, it's highly probable that you'll see me hanging from a gallows in a couple of days.»

«Do you really think that this will make me happy?» said a desperate and enraged Tassoni before running away, leaving Parna alone to face the consequences of her choices.

* * *

Firmly tied to his chair with his back turned toward the door of the cell, a silent Kleytos was patiently in wait to see her requests fully granted.

He had always thought that his pride as a soldier and a Calibrian was above any price, but neither in his deepest dreams he was able to imagine how rich and persuasive Reich was able to be.

Since when they had paid him the first visit years before, he had always secretly acted in wait for the inevitable day when Calibria and Reich would have clashed.

Obviously, he couldn't imagine that things would became so complicated, depriving him of that role of vassal ruler he had always aimed to, but as long as he was able to save his life, everything else was better.

After all, he had already moved most of his treasures outside the Plains, and given the circumstances, even a fabulous exile surrounded by his gold was a good way to end his life happily.

«Finally, it was time.» he protested when he heard the door opening behind him. «So, do we wanna conclude our agreement?»

He heard almost nothing, apart for a sting on the neck; a moment later, the point of a knife pierced his throat, and Kleytos barely had time to try screaming uselessly before dying, while everything around him became red with his blood.

* * *

When Sadee woke to reach Radika at the library, the sun had not risen yet, so she didn't expect to find someone awake.

Instead, once reached the main room, the elven princess saw Lunardi silently sat at the briefing room, with Rizzoli and Argento's plates hanging from his closed hands. She stayed to look him for a while, and then she slowly walked toward him, taking place next to him.

«When I was sent on Sicily for the final exam to become an Officer, we received an emergency call for a naval disaster close to Lampedusa. A refugee boat had flipped over in the middle of a storm, so we embarked on the San Giorgio ship and reached the site of the shipwreck.

The things I saw that day…»

Lunardi stopped for a moment, while his hands started trembling.

«The water was full of dead corpses. Men. Women. Children. Before coming here, I had never seen so many dead all together.

However, a certain number of refugees were still alive, so we immediately started going up and down from the rope ladders to pull those poor guys out of the water.

My commander at that time called Birozzi. He was a fat, arrogant, sadistic bastard. I didn't like him, as much as he didn't like me. We hated each other. During the entire course, he did his best to push us to give up.

I didn't know it yet, but right that morning he had discovered he had pancreatic cancer, and he had only a few months to live.

Suddenly, we noted a woman with her three years child desperately clinging to a piece of wood, more than one hundred meters far from the ship. The current was dragging them away. "Let them be" they told us. "They're already dead".

I was already about to jump in the water, when my Commander came before me and did it in my place.

He reached the woman, successfully securing both her and her child to a lifebelt; however, the effort had been too much for his already weakened body, and before being able to come back, I saw him disappear under the water.

He's never been found.»

«And the woman and her child?» Sadee asked after a brief silence

«Saved.» Lunardi replied before looking once again the two plates in his hand «They always told me that the first duty of a commander is to remain alive at all costs. Because if the commander dies, his soldiers will no more have someone to lead them.

When I heard of his diagnosis, I remember I thought: "Would he have done the same if he hadn't known he had little to live?".»

Lunardi then turned to Sadee, and the elven princess was able to see a strange light in his eyes: the eyes of a wounded lion.

«But now I know that there's something worse than being forced to see your soldiers die, and it's the doubt of not having done enough to assure their safety.

He was well aware that anyone who jumped in the water would not come out, but in that moment the sole thing I was able to think was that he didn't trust me enough to let me do what I wanted.»

Then, Sadee gently caressed his cheek, end their eyes met while the first sunlight started appearing from the closed windows.

«You're a fine soldier and a good man, Flavio.»

«I doubt it.» he replied with a sarcastic smile. «But the truth is that I'm still unable to accept the fact that probably I'll not be able to save them all.

Each plate I'll take back from this mission is one more mother forced to assist at his son's funeral, killed on a mission of which she'll never know anything.»

«The sole fact that you have this kind of thoughts is the proof that your commander made the right choice that night.»

They smiled each other, while Lunardi kept on enjoying the pleasurable, gently sensation of Sadee's hand on his cheek.

Suddenly, the door opened, and a more thank shocked Phyleos entered the room.

«What happens?»

«Captain. You have to come, now.»

* * *

When Lunardi and Sadee reached the entrance of the royal prisons following General Phyleos, they found a group of soldiers occupied in trying to help one of them to recover from a bad head injury.

But what they saw a few steps later in Kleytos' cell was even more shocking, at the point of leaving both of them speechless for anguish.

Tassoni was tied and chained like the worse criminal strictly surveilled by a couple of guards leaded by the same Aristhes, with both his hands and uniform stained with blood.

«Tassoni! What's happened?»

But the young soldier lowered his eyes without answering, then Lunardi turned to Aristhes.

«What's the meaning of this? Let him go!»

«I can't.»

«What?»

«Someone entered into Kleytos' cell after having knocked out the guard at the door and killed him. The second guard saw the door of the cell open and came checking, and found your man next to the Kleytos' dead body with the dagger in his hand.»

A more than shocked Lunardi then turned again to Tassoni, which however refused once again to cross his eyes.

«Simone. What have you done?»


	29. Vim vi repellere licet

Author's Notes

Hi to everyone!

I hope you enjoyed fine vacancies.

I know it, I'm a bit late, but my holydays have been quite filled with duties, and counting work I had been forced to postpone this new chapter's conclusion many times.

But now, we're finally here!

We're almost there! Only 4 chapters to the end of this first part of my GATE spinoff!

Big things are about to happen! Stay tuned, because next chapter will be filled with surprises!

See you soon!^_^

Cj Spencer

* * *

28

Tassoni was taken to another cell and tied up as Kleytos, and sometime later Lunardi was allowed to talk with him alone.

Judging by the swollen eye and cheek, the guards didn't take it easy in arresting him, and the moment Lunardi entered into that small room taking seat in front of him, the young soldier immediately lowered his glance to the ground.

«So, Simone. Now it's time to speak. What's happened inside there?»

«It wasn't me, Sir.» Tassoni shyly replied. «When I was about to reach the cell, I found the door opened and heard strange noises. But when I entered General Kleytos was already dead.

I was still trying to understand what was happened, when the guards arrived and arrested me.»

«Did you manage to note something?»

«The sole thing I remember is that I heard strange footsteps. It was almost like if someone was walking all around me without being able to see it.»

Then, that was time for the main question.

«Why did you go to Kleytos cell?»

This time, Tassoni remained silent, with no apparent will to answer.

«I made you a question, soldier!» Lunardi shouted like few other times in his Captain's life.

«I… I can't…» he replied while trembling.

«You can't?» Flavio repeated. «Do you have an idea of the situation you are? Even if they should not decide to execute you, whenever we'll be able to return Castria you could be court martialed for high treason and jailed forever!»

«I… I know it… but… I can't…»

It was a waste of time to keep on insisting, so Lunardi ruefully got up and told the guard to open the door.

«As you wish. But this will not end well for you.»

«Please Captain, you must believe me. I'm not the murderer. Whoever did it, it's still out there.»

Lunardi stayed still for a moment, but at the end, he left the cell, finding Aristhes and Sadee waiting for him right outside.

«So? What did he say.» Aristhes asked

«He's clearly protecting someone, this is more than sure. But he's too scared to talk.»

«Scared? Of what?»

«I don't know it. He's young and lacking of experience, but he's as much trained and prepared as all of my other men.»

«Maybe someone is blackmailing him, and that's why he doesn't want to talk.» Sadee supposed.

«Even like this, this doesn't change the fact that he has killed our only hope to eradicate the spies from our city.»

Lunardi then asked Aristhes to see the crime scene, so the General leaded him and Sadee to Kleytos' cell, where everything was still as when the crime happened.

«What are you doing?» Aristhes asked when Flavio started making photos with his smatphone.

«If this murder truly involves one of my men, the High Command will demand to know what happened. I have to document everything.»

Meanwhile, Kleytos' body had been removed from the chair and placed over a litter, ready to be thrown to the dogs; after having made some photos, Lunardi kneeled alongside him to inspect him more closely.

«Strange.»

«What?»

«You see it? He's been stabbed from behind. The knife was firmly stuck in the neck from up to down, coming out of the throat and severing the jugular.»

«Yes, I know it. And then?»

«This is not the way we use to perform an assassination. By piercing an enemy like this, there's a concrete risk for the blow not be deadly, forcing the killer to perform a second strike. We're trained to do like this.» Lunardi said by mimicking the move on himself with his knife. «We strike from behind, but at the opposite we hit upward, piercing the spine and destroying both nerves, vocal cords and jugular with a single deadly shot. Like this, the victim is paralyzed and unable to scream, and dies silently in a matter of seconds.»

«Maybe he did it on purpose to avoid being suspected.» Aristhes replied. «After all I don't think he wanted being found, and it's just a coincidence if his presence has been noted by the guards.»

The murder weapon was still on the table, a fine dagger tainted with blood with a short blade and golden hilt.

«A fine weapon.» Sadee commented

«It's common in Reich's army.» Aristhes said. «Your soldier probably took it from the battlefield.»

«There are plenty of other daggers and knifes on city right now. I'm not able to see the sense of using something like this. Not to mention that…»

Lunardi then took a bit of wet powder from the ground, spreading on the hilt and then gently flowing it away, revealing the fingerprints impressed on it.

«Just as I thought.» the Captain said comparing the revealed prints with Tassoni's one on his state of service stored in his smartphone. «You see? The fingerprints are different.»

«The what!?» said a confused Aristhes.

«They're particular marks impressed in our hands. They differ for every single living being, which means that whoever touched this dagger was not my man.»

«I fear this will be less helpful than you think, Flavio.» said a discomforted Sadee. «You remember? Simone was still wearing gloves when he's been arrested. Considering this, it's not strange that his fingerprints are not on this dagger.»

«Or maybe this could mean that someone else is the murderer.»

At that point, Lunardi started inspecting the walls of the cell, beating and tasting them in various parts as if he was in search for a door.

«What now?» Aristhes asked.

«Tassoni said that he heard footsteps when he entered the cell. Maybe there's some sort of secret passage, and this would explain why no one has seen the assassin coming nor leaving.»

«It's impossible, Flavio. You have my word there are no passages in this part of the palace. The sole way to enter and exit is across the main doors, and I have already two witnesses saying that they has seen no one apart for your soldier crossing them.»

That was the main problem. And when neither a single suspicious thing emerged by inspecting the walls, Lunardi seriously started fearing for Tassoni's safety.

«Trust me Flavio, I too would like to believe it's not so, but I'm not able to see neither one single thing capable of exculpate your soldier. And if he doesn't admit his guilt or explains why he did it, I'll have no choice but to sentence him to death.»

Lunardi however noted a strange light in Aristhes' eyes, as if there was something he didn't want to tell him.

«What's the problem?»

«I will not lie to you, my friend.» the General said after an endless moment of silence. «All this mess has made you under a very bad light in front of the council. Someone says that you made some sort of secret agreement with Reich to save your life once the city will be conquered, or even worse that the same Singing People has reached an agreement to share the Plains with Reich after conquer.»

Lunardi was so shocked that he took a moment before answering, trying as possible to keep his rage under control.

«I buried one of my boys and one is out there feeding the wolves, how your minions dare to think something like this?»

«I know it, Flavio! And the King too. But honestly, I don't know how long the king will keep on listening me instead of the rest of the council.»

* * *

Rocco and the others surrounded Lunardi the moment he and Sadee crossed the door of their rooms.

«Tell me it's not true, Captain!» Amato said.

«It's not possible, I refuse to believe it!» said Stefanini. «Mama's boy… a spy of Reich!?»

«I'm as surprised as you are, guys.» Lunardi replied. «But this doesn't change the fact that he's been found in General Kleytos' cell with General's dead body close to him.»

«Come on sir, do you remember where we are?» Amato said. «We're in a world filled with freaking magical things and other nonsenses. Who says that someone didn't enter in that cell using some sort of bibidibobidi and left it in the same way.»

«We'll not solve anything by simply shouting and protesting.» the Captain firmly replied. «Obviously I too refuse to believe that Tassoni might truly be a spy, but we cannot exclude that he murdered Kleytos for other reasons.»

That was true, and soon everyone were forced to consider even this horrible possibility. After all Rizzoli was a friend and a mentor for Mama's boy, not to mention he was in great friendship even with Argento and some of the Calibrian officers fallen in combat.

«What if he did it to protect someone?» suddenly said Torrisi

«But who?» Cassetti objected. «He knows no one apart for us in this city.»

But suddenly he jumped on the spot, and other ones too started looking each other with worried and almost ashamed eyes.

«Holy shit…» said Brugnoni. «Don't tell me that…»

«Is there something you wanna speak about with us, soldier Brugnoni?» severely said Lunardi.

* * *

Shortly before noon, a mixed unit of Italian and Calibrian soldiers broke down the door of the small house above the bakery along Aulas Road, much to the surprise of the locals.

The room was empty, but small pieces of crystal were found to the ground, together with a letter placed over the desk. A few hours later, Lunardi personally threw the same latter in front of Aristhes during a private meeting in the General's personal rooms.

«That's the proof you needed.» he said without trying to hide his disappointment. «It's a full confession written and signed by that Warrior Bunny, Parna. She confesses being a spy for Reich, of having approached my men in search for information and seduced Tassoni to turn him into an unconscious informant. We also found fragments of a magic device that we think Parna used to communicate with the enemy.»

A speechless Aristhes took the letter, briefly reading it.

But more importantly, in the letter the woman confesses General Kleytos' assassination as an attempt to protect her true identity, also explaining how she managed to enter and leave the prison undetected. I suppose this is more than enough to prove my man's innocence.»

However, despite this Aristhes wasn't apparently moved to believe Lunardi's words.

«I would like to consider this a strong proof my friend, but the truth is that this proves nothing. On contrary, this makes your soldier's situation even worse if possible.»

«What!?»

«I mean, this simply proves that he was involved in personal affairs with a Reichian spy.»

«More or less like a dozen of other men of this city. Come on, how much of your captains do you think have passed from her bed?»

«I know it, but this doesn't change the fact that it's your man the one that has been found in that cell alongside Kleytos' body. Given the situation, even excluding that he acted following Reich's orders, who can say that he has not killed the general simply to protect her whore, receiving a fake exculpation in exchange?

Even like this, his one is still a serious crime.»

Hearing such words, Lunardi fell over the chair, forced to admit that Aristhes' mind was not so wrong.

That was true: even like this, Tassoni's situation was still difficult and quite problematic.

«You have to admit that it's a quite forced hypothesis.» he tried to say. «I spoke with Tassoni again before coming here.

He says that he had started having feelings for that girl, Parna. He says that after having discovered her role as a spy he went in Kleytos' cell to ask him not to make her name in exchange for a safe passage to Castria.

We're speaking of a Warrior Bunny. We both know what those women are capable of. Maybe she wanted be sure that no one could reveal her true identity, and when Simone was arrested in her place she has tried to make amend by writing that confession before vanishing.»

«If my hypothesis is too much simple.» Aristhes smiled. «Your one instead is a bit more complicated. First of all, do you really think that a Warrior Bunny, which moreover is a spy and a whore, could do all this just to save one of her many customers?»

«I see your prejudices over the Warrior Bunnies are far from dying.» severely said Lunardi. «Maybe you should try to have a bit more consideration for them, don't you think?»

«I know it, my friend. But we cannot rule out any hypothesis. Certainly this letter opens new scenarios over the entire situation, and since his role as a traitor is no more certain he deserves a trial. For now, the best I can do is to postpone it till the end of the siege.

The trebuchets and cannons' destruction have surely reduced the enemy's morale, and for now the city should be safe. Plus this, by now the envoys I sent outside before being completely encircled should have reached the closest cities. It's just a matter of time for their armies to reach us.»

«Why are you so sure that the other cities will support you against Reich?»

«We fought countless battles over centuries, but the Plains are still our home. Every time someone tried to invade our lands, all cities had united to repel the invasion. This time too will be the same. If Reich conquers Calibria, the entire Haqaba Plains will be in danger. Of course, we'll need to accord them some concessions in terms of gold and dominions, but at this point all we want is to win this war.»

* * *

There had been a time when Masada was considered one of the most impressive and impregnable fortresses in the north.

Located above an high hill and surrounded by woods, it was clearly visible for miles in each direction, and even if it was still considered some sort of monument for his primary role during the last period of the Artic War, now it was nothing more than a ruin destroyed by time.

Most of the walls were partially collapsed, as much as three of the four towers and many internal buildings, but using wooden beams, palisades and a lot of tar, the band of marauders known as the Kimairas had been able to turn it again into a powerful stronghold, well surveilled and capable to resist even against a strong and well-organized enemy attack.

The Kimairas and their leaders were well aware of the fact that they had surely provoked the Singing People's rage by assaulting and slaughtering their bases, and knowing what they were capable of they had fortified their base even more, at the point that maybe neither a five hundred men's army could be enough to pursue their base to surrender.

But what that bunch of humans, ogres and other creatures couldn't know was that the power of the strangers they had naively provoked was far more terrible than they could imagine.

Silently hidden in the darkness of the night, a silent spy was observing all of them, flying without a single noise right above their heads, and through its eyes, everything happening around and even inside the fort was instantly seen even by the silent hunters hiding in the forest.

«Enemy sighted.» Munaron said looking at her monitor.

«Numbers?» Dante asked

«Six men above the walls and on the towers, twelve guards all around the perimeter, fourteen in the courtyard, two in front of the door of the barrack at the center.»

«So.» Santalba commented, «We're no less than twelve against thirty-four, not to mention the ones inside the barracks.»

«We'll not be ten.» said the Major

«Sir?»

«The place is well-protected, but a silent approach should assure us an easy victory. The less we are, the easier will be to act unnoticed.»

«But sir, we neither have any idea of how many others are hiding inside there.» said Gazza

«We can do this. Santalba, Betton, Munaron and Pasetti. You'll come with me. The other ones will stay here close to the vehicles.»

«Yes sir.» said Santalba for his comrades and himself

«But, Major, are you sure about this?» Zori demanded. «This could be really dangerous.»

«Don't worry, dear. This will not be different from other similar situations we faced many times.»

Herera too was quite worried, at the point that when the squad was about to depart she asked to come with them.

«Please Major Dante, let me come with you. I could be useful.»

«It's out of question. Your safety is one of our top priorities. You'll stay here with the rest of the squad and wait for further orders.»

«But… but…»

«Please. We cannot fight freely if we're worried for you.»

At the end the young centaur had no choice but accept the Major's decision, and the same thing happened even with the fairy when she tried to sit as always on Betton's shoulder to follow him.

«No, you cannot come. It's too dangerous.» he said, and the little girl ruefully accepted to let him go flying back to Herera.

«We'll make a signal to make you know when the battle is over.» Dante said to Gazza while the rest of the squad finished checking the equipment. «If you see a green flare, it will mean that the operation has been successful. If at the opposite you should see a red one, leave this place as fast as you can and reach the closest base.

Understood?»

«Yessir.»

«Very well.»

At that point, the squad left, quickly disappearing among the trees.

* * *

Well protected by darkness and guided by their night visors, Dante and his men successfully approached the fortress totally unnoticed, stopping their advance immediately before the end of the forest, not too far from the southern wall.

«We need more eyes on the inside.» said the Major turning to Munaron. «Do it.»

«Yes sir.»

The woman then released a second drone, this time a wheeled one, which entered in the courtyard passing from a small hole in the stone right under the sentinels' nose and reaching the barrack. Then, a small telescopic camera entered in the building across an opened door, and like this Dante and the others were able to see the rest of the gang, more or less a dozen of other marauders: most of them were sleeping everywhere, and judging from the tens of mugs placed on the wooden tables of the room they were completely drunk, while the remaining ones where chatting and playing cards.

«They're thirteen.» said Munaron.

However, thanks to this close inspection, Dante and the others were able to note an expected, but at the same time dangerous fact: most of the marauders, both the sentinels and the ones inside there, were armed with gewehre, but some of them wielded even Italian equipment like jackets, helmets and, more important, rifles. The result of their attack against Sigma Point for sure.

«All right, you know the plan. Get ready.»

«Sir.» Betton asked at a certain point with a worried and somehow scared tone. «What should we do if someone of them surrenders?»

The Major almost hesitated, but at the end he gave the answer everyone expected.

«Orders are clear. No prisoners nor witnesses.»

«We're not terrorists, sir.» Betton tried to reply. «This is far beyond any war code.»

«Do you intend questioning our orders, soldier?» calmly said Dante

«N… no, sir.» the young soldier answered

«Very well. Come on. First goes first, let's take care of those sentinels.»

Just a bit of silenced sniper shots were enough to wipe the walls and towers from the enemy without making the slightest noise nor alerting the rest of the fortress, then the squad divided moving to opposite directions. Betton, Munaron and the same Dante reached the wall and started climbing them using climbing grapples, while Santalba and Pasetti remained outside and slaughtered the sentinels along the external perimeter, taking down all of them in a few minutes.

«This is Mantis.» said Pasetti to the radio. «The outside is free.»

«This is Bear. Received, Mantis.» Dante replied. «Stay alert and wait for our signal.»

«Received. We're on it.»

The Major and his men then reached the courtyard and did the same with the sentinels inside the fortress, proving to be so deadly that they had neither need to make use of their rifles, but killing all of those robbers simply with knifes and, sometimes, even bare hands.

The two guards surveilling the barrack where the last to be killed, slaughtered in the same moment by Betton and Munaron.

Dante looked inside from a window: none of the others had noticed anything. He and the others waited till Santalba and Pasetti reached them, taking place all around the building.

At that point, using sign language, the Major commanded the assault; Betton slightly opened the door, and Munaron launched both a smoke bomb and a grenade. Three of the enemies died in the explosion, which almost made that unsafe bunch of stone and rotten woods collapse, and the remaining ones were so shocked and confused for both the noise and smog that most of them couldn't even get their weapons before being shot to death by Dante and the others.

The massacre lasted a bunch of seconds, and when the five soldiers emptied their loaders, there was no one still alive inside there apart for them.

«Mission completed.» said the Major. «Make the signal.»

«Yes… yes sir.» said a still shocked Betton, the only one among them who has never seen or done something like that before.

* * *

The flare was launched, and some minutes later the rest of the Falcon-9 reached the fortress.

«Nice job, Major.» Gazza said looking around and seeing nothing but corpses.

«Uao, you did a great mess.» Zori commented.

Herera too was shocked: by now she knew what those strangers from another world were capable of, but the sight of such massacre was far enough to make tremble by fear even a fierce centaur like her, pursuing her to wonder what could have happened if the Singing People and their people had clashed.

Dante sat on the edge of the well took a sip of water from his bottle, using the remaining one to clean himself from the blood on his hands and face.

«Try to call one of the bases, tell them that the problem of the marauders is solved.»

«As done it, sir.» Gazza said returning to the VLM

Then, Dante noted Herera's shocked face, and it was not difficult for him to understand the reason for such dismay.

«It's war, my dear.» he said, gaining a terrified glance in exchange. «You've never seen it so closely, have you?»

«Not… this kind of war.» the centauress said in shock. «How's possible? How can your world be so intact if you're all capable to do something like this?»

Dante took a smoke from his pocket, using his refined silver zippo to light it.

«Things on Earth are not so different from here. We fight each other for the sake of our people as much as stupidest things. But exactly like you, there's something in our souls, some sort of weak conscience, still capable to stop us before doing something that could lead to the end of our world. The sole different thing is that you can still try to repair your mistakes if you do something wrong, while on contrary we already have the instruments to destroy our world.» then he looked directly into her eyes. «And that's why I'm a bit envious of you.»

«Master Dante…»

«I wanna leave this place before sunset!» the Major said returning to his men. «Find anything burnable and set everything. We'll burn this places to its foundations.»

Everyone were too occupied with their things to notice that one of the sentinels, severely wounded but miraculously still alive, had found enough force in his last moments to reach his one-hand gewehre and point it against them: because if his time had come, at least he wanted to take those bastards' commander with him.

«Look out!» said the sole person to see him on time.

In the same moment when one single shot echoed in the fortress, something appeared between him and Dante, something big, and a line of blood passed right in front of the Major's eyes. The marauder died immediately after shooting, and seconds later even someone else fell to the dusty ground, leaving the entire Falcon-9 speechless and stunned.

«Herera!»


	30. Damnatio Ad Bestias

Author's Notes

Hi to everyone!^^

You didn't expect to see me again so soo, right?

But I'm here. This week has been quite calm, so I had a lot of time to write, not to mention that I waited to write this chapter for a very long time.

All right, we're almost there. Just 3 chapters to the end (4, if you consider the epilogue)

I must warn you now: probably you've really understood it, but this story will end with a cliffhanger. Most of the events will remain unsolved, but don't warry: the story will continue with a new fanfiction, which will start to be posted starting from March 25.

So, stay tuned!^^

See you soon!^_^

* * *

29

The entire squad immediately regrouped around Herera, finding her badly injured and almost fainted.

The bullet had hit her almost in the middle of her human stomach, provoking a serious bleeding.

«Medic! Medic!» Dante kept on shouting until Pietro Sarpi, the unit's medic, finally reached him.

«Shit, it's a very bad wound!»

Dante immediately tried to stop the bleeding by pressing on the wound on the stomach with his scarf as strong as possible.

«Ma… master Dante…» she said with a faint voice. «Are you… all right…»

«Idiot. What have you done? Curse you Sarpi, do something!»

«But… I don't even know her internal structure!»

«She'll die in any case! Try something, for Christ's sake!»

But the truth was that no one had idea of what, nor they had the necessary equipment to treat such bad wound and save Herera's life.

Then, all of a sudden, an image passed in front of Dante's eyes: they were images of a dusty abandoned village, somewhere in Afghanistan. A sniper was pointing him, but even that time he hadn't smart or fast enough to notice it.

Someone shouted, a shadow appeared from nowhere, and immediately after a young soldier was lying dead at his feet.

Bison. That was his name. He was just a boy, a rookie soldier at his first mission overseas, and he was his squad leader.

«No. Not again.»

When everyone was waiting in their hearts nothing but to see her die, suddenly the fairy that had followed the squad at the base started flying all around as if she was trying to catch the attention.

«Fly away mosquito!» desperately shouted Dante. «This is not the moment!»

But she ignored him, and once found her way she approached a dying Herera, putting her tiny hands on her belly and surrounding both their bodies with a weak light.

«What are you…»

«Wait, Major.» said a stunned Zori. «Let her do.»

«What!?»

«She's a fairy. Maybe she can do something.»

Everyone then stopped, and even if still worried they silently remained watching that incredible sight. The light all around Herera and the fairy became stronger, and all of a sudden the pain on Herera's face seemed fading, replacing a mask of fear and sufferings with a more relaxed, almost sleeping one.

«What the…»

A stronger light came from under Dante's scarf, then everything stopped, and the fairy fell exhausted to the ground. At that point, a speechless Major hesitantly lifted his scarf still soaked with blood from Herera's belly, and when he saw the wound perfectly healed and the bulled fell to the ground the entire unit's disbelief turned into proper and true wonder.

«I'll be doggoned…»

«I knew it!» Zori said. «She's an high fairy, so she has healing abilities.»

Some seconds later, a weak but incredibly still alive Herera opened her eyes, finding the entire Falcon-9 looking at her.

«Master Dante…» she tried to say, but the Major immediately hugged her, astonishing even his own comrades.

«You, idiot! What were you trying to do?»

«I… I'm sorry…»

«Don't scare me again like this, ok?»

«Yes… of course…»

Dante helped her to get up before recovering his usual tone almost immediately, right on time to silence hisses and low laughs by the rest of the squad.

«Come on, we have a work to do. Let's burn down this place.»

«Yes sir!» everyone answered

Then the squad returned to its duties, searching everything combustible to burn the entire fortress, from wood to oil to straw, and many bonfires were prepared in strategic places.

However, something else suddenly happened.

While searching for something else to burn, Gozza and Munaron found a small door, well hidden behind a pile of junk and closed with a big padlock. Just a single hit with the butt of the rifle was enough to open it, but a couple of minutes after having entered both of them returned outside with the most worried and shocked faces.

«Major, please. There's something you have to see.»

«What now?»

Dante then followed the two soldiers inside of a small and narrow corridor that took them directly inside of the fortress' foundations; once crossed a second door the three soldiers entered into Masada's ancient prisons, and that's where the Major found himself face to face with one of the worst vision of his life.

The cells were literally full of women, humans in particular, but also elves and demy-humans, lean and worn to the bones, with no apparent trace of life in their eyes. When the lights of the torches illuminated them, they barely found the strength to weakly rise their eyes when the light toward the newcomers, which remained even more shocked by seeing the tremendous scars and signs all over their naked bodies.

«Oh, my God.» Dante said.

Gozza instinctively took one of his ration biscuits and gave it to one of the women, which literally devoured it before the other ones of her cell could try to steal it. Munaron and Dante did the same, and in a matter of seconds, their entire ration for the following day extinguished.

«I wanna speak with Castria. Now!»

* * *

Almost two hours were necessary to create a radio connection with Castria by the now restored Sigma Point, and when Dante finally succeeded in speaking with General Perdersoli the sun had risen already.

By Major's order, the captured women had been left in the cells, but they had received food and water in return taking them from the fortress' barn and well; however, the truth was that no one had any idea of to solve that situation.

As the Major said, orders were clear: no one had to see them or know who they really were, and that's why the women were still jailed. But what to do with them was a truly great problem.

The discussion went for a long time, and judging from Dante's tone things were taking a very bad shape.

«Yes sir, I know it. But we cannot… I know we have our orders. Is there anything… yes sir. Yes sir, I understand. Of course. Thank you sir. Major Dante, out.»

«So?» Betton asked. «What did they say?»

«They'll send no one to take care of them.» he ruefully answered. «We're too far from Castria, and in any case the personnel deployed along the antennas line is already at its limit due to what happened in Sigma Point.

They said to leave the cells' doors closed in a way that they'll be able to get free by themselves in a short time and then leave.»

Disbelief took on the entire squad.

«We cannot abandon them, sir.» Gozza said. «Did you see them? They're at their limit. They would not be able to take ten steps alone, much less walk till the closest village.»

«Which is more than ten miles far from here, if I can.» Zori pointed. «You really think they can do it all alone?»

Dante reflected for a long time, unable to make a decision. He had never disobeyed an order in his entire life as a soldier, and even if he used to think of himself as a cold and severe officer, for the first time his mind was saying him that follow the orders was not the right thing to do.

«This place is quite isolated, we know it.» said Zori with a strange smile. «And apart for us, no one knows that It's no more infested by a dangerous band of marauders.»

«The Imperial border is less than one hundred miles far from here.» he said imagining what his soldiers were thinking to. «And I cannot sacrifice too much of my resources while the mission is not completed yet. Not to mention that we have still the problems of meeting the centaurs on spring and recover Mazzega.»

Betton and the others looked each other, and apart for few doubtful they had no intention of pulling back.

«All right, you won.» Dante finally said, making his guys smile with relief. «Hell to the orders.»

The Falcon-9 then was split on two, with Santalba, Munaron, Betton, Sarpi, Zori and Herera in charge of continuing the mission together with the fairy and the same Dante, and Pasetti left in command of the remaining ones assigned to surveil the fortress and protect the captured women for the time being.

«Don't say a word.» said the Major noting Betton's smile before getting in the car.

Pasetti reached him to receive the last orders.

«Are you sure about this?» Dante demanded for one last time

«If we leave those women to their fate, we wouldn't be better than Reich or those marauders.» replied his Senior Sergeant.

«If I don't know what kind of problems we'll meet along the way. I'll need to take most of the equipment with me. You can keep your weapons and some of the heavy equipment. I'll send someone to recover you and the women once returned to Castria, even if I'll have to do it by myself.»

«Don't worry, Major. We'll wait for you. Be careful out there.»

«You too. See you soon.»

Then, Dante's squad departed again, leaving behind an LMV, a couple of rocket-launchers and more than half of its members.

* * *

Each day that passed with Calibria still resisting was an insult for Reich's pride and glory.

In seventy years no one, even the most powerful tribe or nation, had been able to resist more than a couple of weeks, but after almost four months of siege Calibria's walls were still there, intact, an impassable wall of stone, arrows and swords capable to repel all sort of attacks.

Commonly that pile of junky stones was nothing for the empire's powerful siege weapons, but thanks to the Singing People's intromission both the cannons and the trebuchets had been destroyed, and there was no hope to replace them.

Even like this, General Octavia had ordered to prosecute with the assaults, trusting to exhaust the defenders at the point of making them surrender, but Calibria's resources had no end apparently.

The sight of those walls still in front of him was too much for Donzark to accept, and the simple fact of rethinking about his previous humiliations as commander of the siege units was more than enough to make him desire to cross those walls and impale the goddamn Singing People with his own hands.

«That's enough!» he shouted punching the table of the command tent almost at the point of breaking it. «We waited more than enough!»

«Stay calm.» said an apparently calm Octavia.

The truth was that she too was quite worried. As the Commander in charge of the invasion, she was more ashamed of anyone else for the fact that after so much time the enemies were still resisting, and with her own life at stake each defeat was like one more step closer to the gallows.

And there was still the problem of the Singing People in Castria. The winter was about to end, and without winter it was just a matter of time for their forces to start moving again, putting the entire operation in great danger.

«This situation must be put to an end now! We cannot keep on being humiliated like this! What will the rest of the continent will think of us if we're unable to smash even a stinky town of farmers?»

«General Donzark has right, My Lady.» said King Madjan, once ruler of the Obold tribe of the north, and now commander of Reich's cavalry. «The troops' morale is decreasing. They think that Reich has lost the favors of Fuhrer.»

«Did you heard that? Maybe you're unable to note it while closed in this tent, but out there the situation is about to explode like our fucking cannons! If we don't do something now, we'll have mass desertions.»

«They'll not desert.» Octavia tried to reply. «They're too scared to disappoint Fuhrer.»

«Maybe our ones. But what about the auxiliaries, like the Obold here?»

Madjan felt more than insulted of such lack of consideration, but he feared too much Donzark to reply.

«If a single city can defeat our troops, what might happen in the occupied territories? We spent our entire resources in this war, we cannot, cannot absolutely fail. Do you understand it or not?»

It was too obvious what, or whom Donzark and Madjan were thinking to, but even if she was risking her life far more than theirs, Octavia was still too scared of the consequences to take such decision.

«We must conquer these people, not exterminate them. Do you have an idea of what could happen if we send her against them?»

«They had their occasion to surrender. Now they have to face the consequences of their choice.»

«The soldiers need to believe that Fuhrer still fights at their side.» said Madjan. «If I can, General, this is an option that we should consider.»

Octavia turned to Ludwika, which despite the noise was still sleeping in her bed like the child she seemed to be, deaf to the problems of the adults.

The General hesitated; she almost seemed at the point of surrendering, when suddenly a scout entered the tent carrying a large wooden box with him.

«My lords, I bring important news.» he said while kneeling and saluting

«Speak.» Donzark commanded

«The armies of the other cities are descending toward Calibria.»

«How many?» Octavia asked

«Forty thousands, more or less. Their march is faster than expected. By proceeding like this, they'll be here by tomorrow morning.» he said, then he respectfully handed them the box.

Donzark opened, and all three general remained silent. A disgusting stink of death went through the air together with a swarm of flies, but they were everyone too used to such things to remain shocked.

«This war must end tomorrow, in a way or another.»

* * *

For the first time after three months of endless work, Radika and Sadee were able to think that maybe the answer was truly close.

Countless nights spent on working were about to be well repaid, and the moment Medea brought them the book they were searching for, a wave of heat filled their bodies.

Now they knew it for sure: the answer was right there.

The proof that they were going in the right direction had come when they had started to find references regarding a dead and truly ancient language once used by a lot of old civilizations came before the Empire, a so much ancient idiom that after centuries spent on studying it no one had been still able to fully translate it, apart for some words and verbs.

References about the said language were told side by side with information about the mighty, almost legendary civilization went before the Empire, known as The Ancients, from which it was said that all human civilizations of the continent came from: one more proof that maybe all humans of the Special Region had a common descent.

All the pieces of the puzzle had finally found their place when Sadee found various notes leading to a legendary manuscript, known as the Dimarcarium, or the Book of the Origin, probably the sole document dating back to The Ancients' civilization, written with their language and where the first history of the entire human civilization was said to be reported. The Dimarcarium had been lost more than one thousand years before, and its fragments dispersed throughout the continent. But there was an Imperial scholar, Amelio Vonerius, that almost two hundred years before had spent his entire life trying to recollect all fragments of the Dimarcarium and unveil the mystery about its origins. Unfortunately Vonerius had died before being able to complete his studies, but the scholars went after him reported that he had successfully recovered the heart of the text, and one of them, Publio Marcello, probably the first linguist in the Empire's history, had copied it in his treatise of ancient languages.

Now it was the decisive moment. Marcello's History of Languages was right in front of them, probably the sole copy of the book left in the world after the Empire's priests had declared Marcello an heretic after his death, and all his works destroyed. The answer war inside there.

The three girls looked each other, almost trying to find the courage to open it.

«All right.» said Radika. «Here goes of nothing.»

The pages made yellow and week by time ran in front of them, till the moment they finally reached the part dedicated to Amelio Vonerius. Then, after some notes and conjectures dedicated to Vonerius' life and studies, the lost fragment of the Dimarcarium appeared in front of them.

* * *

 _Historiam nostram omnes sciant._

 _Anno DXXXVII ab urbe condita, barbari carthaginienses Romae dominia cingentes, apud pagum quindecem milia passuum ab Narnia distante arcana porta apparit._

 _Quotcumque transgredi sunt, ultra eum de magnifico mundo commemorerunt, ita amoeno opulentoque ut Elysium Campi admoneret et thesaurorum et fabulosarumque arcanorum animantia pleno._

 _Pro Sortem Res Publicae timens, Publio Cornelio Scipio consul senatusque populi nostri partem ad mundo ultra aditum ducere impererunt, ut si hostes vincissent patriae nostrae futurum caveret._

 _Quinque milia excerpi eramus, senatores, milites plebeiique eramus._

 _Per portam transeimus, primum castrum erigimus et circa id urbem aedificabimus; animo nostro uno die domum nostram repetere potuissemus sperabamus, sed die infausto porta evanescit, igitur locum isto novam patriam accipere cogiti sumus._

 _Per viginti annos nullo negotio localium barbarorum monstriumque hoc locis habitantis incursiones obsistendo in opulentia floreramus._

 _Sed tam omnium rerum abundantiae annos post, vehemens Annona in tractu procubuit, igitur domos nostras iterum deserere cogiti sumus ad melia terrae questionem._

 _Plurimi in hoc conficendo itinere morti sunt aliquis in via subsisterunt et diis approbantibus nova domicilia aedificabunt._

 _Nos autem ad occidentem venire continuamus, quod illic acqua, frumento, terraque abundare dicebatur._

 _Iovis Capitolini gratia, Roma renasci florereque possit, hoc mundo sicut altero._

* * *

 _That everyone know our history._

 _In the year 532 after our city's foundation, while the Carthaginian barbarians were preparing to siege Rome's dominions, a strange gate appeared not far from a village fifteen miles far from the city of Narni._

 _The ones that crossed it referred of a wonderful world on the other side of it, so rich and wonderful to resemble the Elysium, filled with life and treasures and the strangest creatures._

 _Fearing that our Republic might not survive to the enemies, the Senate and Publio Cornelio Scipio ordered to send part of our people in the world beyond the gate, so that our nation could have a hope to survive even if the fate of Rome was to fall against Carthage._

 _Five thousands of us were chosen: we were common people, nobles, senators, soldiers. We crossed the gate and created a castrum, building soon an entire city all around of it. We hoped being able to return home soon, but one sad day the gate disappeared in front of us, leaving us trapped in that world, which now was our home._

 _For twenty years, we lived in the castrum in prosperity, only occasionally faced by the weak efforts of the barbaric intelligent beasts of that world to fight us. But after so many years, a terrible famine consumed the region, and we had no choice but leaving it in search for a better place._

 _Many of us had died along the way, other ones have chosen to stop along the road, and if Gods will be merciful, they'll be able to build new nations._

 _The most of us however have chosen to keep proceeding west, toward the heart of this continent, when it's said to be a rich land full of water, wheat and earth._

 _With the help of Capitoline Jupiter, may Glorious Rome reborn and prosper, in this world like the other one._

* * *

Sadee and Radika rose their shocked eyes from the pages and looked each other, while Medea at the opposite was not completely able to understand their disbelief, even if thanks to Radika she was now able to understand a bit that language.

«Holy Gods…» said the Elven princess.

«Now…» Radika murmured. «Now we know for sure. The Empire… the Empire is Rome!»

* * *

Next day, Reich's forces attacked on midday as always, finding the Calibrians ready to give them the usual welcome with arrows, stones and oil from the top of the walls.

With their numbers continuously decreasing and the spies still hiding among them, the Generals had reached the conclusion that it was useless to keep on trying to launch assaults to the enemy lines, and that remaining inside the still intact walls facing a siege was still better than fighting useless sorties with the risk of losing more men.

However, this strategy too was about to reach its point of no return, because even if the Reichians have no more siege weapons with which make the walls crumble their number was still astonishing, and Arishtes was well aware of the fact that without support from the outside it was simply impossible for Calibria to resist more than this.

Plus this, with their long-range weapons completely extinguished, even the Falcon-1's contribution to battle had tremendously decreased, and the sole thing they were still able to do was to fight alongside archers shooting without rest from the top of their assigned tower.

Like all other times, the Reichians' heavy infantry opened the way to their less equipped comrades, protecting them while they approached the walls with stairs and rams; fortunately the sieging towers had been completely destroyed, and the enemy had no more wood to create other ones, but even like this one or two enemy soldiers were still able to climb the walls, only to be rapidly killed by the spearmen.

From the remains of Hardy's Throne, Octavia and Donzark observed the battle, and the Calibrians' obstinacy to resist was really starting to become quite annoying.

«Don't let them climb the walls!» Aristhes kept on shouting. «Repel them!»

But the truth was that the soldiers were almost exhausted, and probably it was just a matter of time before the enemies could finally succeed to open a breach.

«Where are the other cities! We need them now!»

As if the same Gods have listened his prayers, suddenly dozens of war horns echoed beyond the eastern hills, and a couple of minutes later the banners of the other cities of the planes appeared from nowhere followed by the respective armies.

There were all of them: the Amalteian slingers, the Syrnean spearmen, even the Lyrnessan mighty cavalry.

«They're here!» Aristhes shouted. «They made it in time!»

Then, the entire Calibria exploded in a single jubilation.

«The other cities are here! – We're safe! – Calibria is safe!»

Reich's army sieging the walls didn't retreat, probably because the thought that at that point it was useless to do it, also considering that to attack them the newcomers had to pass first through their main camp.

The united cities' army remained still for a moment, with their kings' chariots in front of it. Finally, King Peralso of Lyrnessus drew his sword, and once shouted loudly forty thousand men rushed down the hill.

«Yes! Yes!» Aristhes said

But then, something happened.

The sentinels and soldiers remained in Reich's camp make no attempt to stop them taking a defensive formation or launching arrows and bullets against them. Then, a few hundred meters before reaching the tents, the cities' army literally opened, completely avoiding the camp and pointing directly against the city.

No one could believe it.

Aristhes too refused to believe the most unthinkable hypothesis, and he had to wait to see the arrows thrown against them by the newcomers killing dozens of his men to realize completely what was happening.

«What the…»

Lunardi used his binoculars to watch in front of him, and so both he and Aristhes were able to see the head of a Calibrian ambassador risen next to Donzark's horse, followed by a sinister and sadistic smile of the enemy General.

«You, bastards!» Aristhes shouted with all his voice. «Make Hardy eat all your souls!»

The impact of the newcomers against the city walls was devastating, but with desperate strength, the Calibrians miraculously succeeded in keep on resisting.

Meanwhile, the other kings had reached Reich's generals above Hardy's throne.

In truth, none of them had never intended to help Calibria, and when Reich's ambassador had paid them a visit to request their support, each kind had made his decision following different objectives. Someone was hoping to see its land spared by the still formidable Reich's army; someone aimed to gain a respectable place in the Empire that Reich was building; someone else instead was leaded by pure and simple hate for an enemy fought for centuries.

«Welcome, my friends.» said Donzark. «You took less than expected.»

«We respected our part of the agreement, General Donzark.» said Queen Helen of Syrne. «Now I hope you'll do the same.»

«Of course we'll do. You can now officially consider yourselves as loyal friends of our Empire.»

«I waited this moment for all my life.» said Peralso. «The day I could enjoy the sight of Calibria burned to ashes.»

«And you still have to say the best moment.» Donzark said while malignantly turning to Octavia. «Right, General?»

«We're already winning.» she murmured while clearly worried. «There's no need for this.»

«The army want to see the power of Fuhrer, and we'll make them see the power of Fuhrer.»

Octavia hesitated for a long time, but at the end she ultimately turned to Ludwika.

«You can go.»

Then, the little girl got up from the floor, and the sole sight of the massive weapon she was holding, some sort of giant curved sword higher than her with a complicated hilt built all-around of her right forearm, was enough to make the other kings shake with fear.

«Hooray! It's time to play!» she said with a tiny and childish voice before starting to run faster than any man toward the walls.

The Calibrians were too much occupied in facing the thousands of enemies pressing against the city to note her, so that little girl was able to reach the walls, climbing them and reaching the balcony with just one single jump.

A platoon of archers at that point found themselves face to face with that apparently innocent child, but before they could fully realize what was happening Ludwika violently swept them away, literally making twelve them into pieces with a single and devastating blow.

«Do you wanna play with me?» she asked to the astonished, scared to death remaining ones.


	31. Mors Tua

_**Author's Notes**_

 _ **Hi to everyone!**_

 _ **We're almost there! Only 2 chapters and the epilogue to the end of this story!**_

 _ **I'm proceeding as fast as possible with these remaining chapters because I decided to start with the new story on March 25, so You can be sure that for March 20 at least this story will be over.**_

 _ **As you've probably understood already, Gate - Warfare will end with a cliffhanger, and the events will continue in the new story, so stay tuned and don't forget to check the domain in search of the sequel!**_

 _ **See you soon!^_^**_

 _ **Cj Spencer**_

* * *

30

«The enemy has breached the city!» a dispatch rider shouted reaching General Aristhes on the top of his tower

«What!? Where?»

«South of the main door, between the sixth and seventh tower!»

«Send our reserves to defend the breach! Repel them!»

«But sir, they have an Apostle with them!»

Hearing that term, Aristhes became pale as a ghost.

«What did you say?»

«It's true, sir! Their Apostle is fighting alongside them! She's massacring our army!»

Aristhes felt a jolt along the spine: even if he was less faithful in Gods and Apostles than most of his fellow citizens he was well aware of what those monsters were capable of, and now that one of them was fighting for Reich Calibria's fate was in true danger.

«Call all our mages! Tell them to face her with all they have! And deploy our defensive guard to protect them!»

«Yes sir!»

The rider left to communicate the orders, and Arishtes, trying to be as calm as possible at least in front of his soldiers, called another one.

«Go call Wises Anthelea and Pharmenon! They're the only ones capable to stop that monster!»

«Yes sir!»

«Don't break the lines!» the General ordered seeing that the soldiers, once heard what was happened, were starting to fall to enemy pressure. «Maintain your position! We cannot allow them to open more breaches!»

However, if in the rest of the walls the Calibrians succeeded to resist somehow, once their Apostle had opened a way the Reichians had started to storm against the lower part of the city, even more encouraged to see their God's servant fighting alongside them.

The city guards and the Royal Cavalry were trying their best to protect the both streets and the rest of the city's defense line, creating walls of shields along the main roads and using the horses to move fast where necessary.

But if the Calibrians could still try to contain common enemies, there was nothing they could do if the Apostle was sent against them.

She was a demon: no matter how strong or numerous her enemies were, she killed them all with brutal and incredibly unnatural coldness, as if that entire massacre was nothing but an innocent game.

Panic spread in a few minutes, and the mere sight of that monster and what she was capable of, together with hundreds of Reichian soldiers running everywhere apparently unstoppable, pursued the inhabitants to start a desperate run to safety. However, they soon found the sole possible way blocked, since with the enemies about to take the external walls Heraclyus and the other Generals had no choice but close the doors of the upper city, hoping to save at least the palace and the rest of Calibria from the invasion.

«Rocco, take the command!» Lunardi shouted leaving the tower to head into the city. «Cassetti, Amato, Niang, with me!»

«Yes, sir!»

* * *

Even if the Reichians were nothing but a bunch of heretics following a fake God (or maybe not so fake, since now everyone were able to see the power of His apostle) the respect for Gods was something they simply couldn't avoid to have, no matter it they too were known for their lack of consideration for other people's faith.

And one of the dogmas of the Special Region, universally known and respected by almost every people of the continent, was that the temples and holy soils in general were sacred, and every act of war was strictly forbidden inside their walls.

Due to this, when the doors of the upper town were closed, most citizens in search for safety chose to seek refuge inside one of the many sacred places like temples, churches and stone circles around city.

Some people headed also at Vulcan's temple, finding its doors already opened for them: maybe none of them had truly faith in Him, but everything was good in such situations to try save their lives.

«Come on, enter here!» Tymlin kept on saying. «Don't worry, you'll be safe! My Lord's benevolence will protect you!»

The refugees, more or less twenty people including a lot of children and elderly, took refuge at the base of the God's statue, which was known to be the most sacred place in a temple.

Tymlin left the doors opened to allow more people to enter, remaining in front of the entrance to protect the refugees if necessary. And it seemed to work indeed, since most of the Reichians that passed in front of the temple didn't even try to cross its doors, both to not offend the God and because the strong resistance of the Calibrian army was forcing them to divert their attention elsewhere.

A small platoon of soldiers went providing more help placing in front of the stairs, and for a brief moment everyone thought to be safe for now. But suddenly, the defenders were horribly wiped away and opened in two with just one hit, and a little girl appeared in front of the presents with an innocent smile and her monstrous sword covered with blood.

«Hooray!» she said with her tiny and childish voice. «Much more people to play with!»

A shocked Tymlin stayed for a long moment observing the massacred bodies of the calibrian soldiers, but when the newcomer turned her glance to the civilians, she immediately jumped in front of her.

«Stop right there!» she said while wielding her hammer. «This is the holy temple of Mighty Vulcan! How you dare to insult him…»

But Tymlin was forced to stop when Ludwika ran against her, proving being so fast that the little half-dwarf was barely able to put her weapon in front of her right on time before being sliced in two.

«You're funny! Come on, let's play!»

After a brief confrontation Tymlin succeeded in pushing her back the time she needed to recover, but before she could try to think something her opponent attacked her again, and even if Tymlin was half-dwarf that girl apparently of her same age was incredibly even stronger.

«Enough! Stop it!»

«It's funny! It's so much funny!»

«I'll not tolerate your lack of respect anymore!»

Taking advantage from her small and fast body, Tymlin successfully avoided yet another enemy assault, and before her opponent could be able to defend she struck her with all her strength with the hammer.

Ludwika's impact with the wall behind her was tremendous, at the point that both her arms and her same neck broke; however, like when Tymlin was sure of having prevailed, her opponent got up without problems, and the little dwarf saw Ludwika's limbs literally rebuilding by themselves in front of her.

«What the…» said Tymlin in disbelief. «You are… an Apostle!?»

«That was quite fun. Let's keep going!» Ludwika replied before launching yet another assault

«If you're truly an Apostle, why are you doing such a thing? Do you have no respect for the Gods?»

«My master told me I could have fun, so I'm having fun.»

«How can your God consider funny this massacre? You're killing innocent people!»

«My master says that anyone doesn't worshipping him is an heretic. And he also says that I can play with the heretics all I want. You too are an heretic, so let's keep playing.»

«This is absurd! My master will never accept this lack of respect for his worshippers! I'll make you pay for your insult in His name!»

The two little girls kept on fighting for endless minutes, silently observed by the more than scared civilians still regrouped at the feet of Vulcan's statue. They didn't know what to do, if remain there hoping for Tymlin's victory or try escaping outside, taking advantage from Ludwika's temporary distraction but risking at the opposite their lives in the streets still full of battles and Reich's soldiers.

However, while Ludwika's resistance was proving to be limitless due to her Apostle's nature, Tymlin at the opposite felt fatigue increasing and strength fading away as the fight proceeded; as an half-dwarf she had better resistance than most of the humans, and her opponent was a human for sure, but despite this in a few minutes she found herself completely unable to effectively resist against her opponent.

Ludwika was brutal and devastating, but also incredibly, and almost impressively calm: she truly seemed having fun while launching her powerful attacks, risking in more than one occasion to make some of the temple's garments collapse above the refugees, and was just due to Tymlin's efforts if everyone were still harmless.

Actually she was the first one unable to understand what was happening: how could she proving to be so inferior to Ludwika if they were both Apostles? Was her opponent truly an Apostle, or maybe the same personification of the God she said to serve?

The little girl felt a terrible sensation in her belly.

Could it be that… she was not an Apostle herself?

She refused to believe it. She was the most loyal and respectful to Mighty Vulcan, she had to be her Apostle. There was no other solution.

Or maybe… she was only lying to herself? Maybe it was just a joke, a mad idea she had come to believe without real proofs.

Her doubts pursued her to put less concentration on the fight, and this ultimately signed her fate.

Not distracted by useless thoughts, Ludwika took advantage from one of her opponent's lacks of reflexes and launched a tremendous assault attacking Tymlin from above; the little dwarf tried a desperate resistance, but this time her trustworthy hammer was broken and sawed in two, together with almost her entire her left arm.

The moment she felt the terrible pain and saw the blood spilling out of the wound, Tymlin finally understood it: she was not an apostle. She was so shocked for what was happening that she did nothing to avoid the second attack of Ludwika, which violently hit her with the flank of the sword, throwing her against a column so strongly to make the column itself crumble over her, together with part of the ceiling.

So, in a matter of moment, Tymlin found herself exhausted, half burned under a pile of heavy debris, without her left arm and almost dead due to the pain and bleeding.

«No… this… can't be.»

Looking at her opponent in that state, Ludwika childish smile turned into a dark and creepy expression of disfavor.

«Tsk. You were not so funny after all.» she said while rising her sword.

Then, once returned to her old self, she threateningly turned looking at the civilians, sill sat close to the statue and shocked by the sight of their last defense beaten and no more able to protect them.

«I suppose I have no choice but find something else to have fun.»

Almost completely buried by the debris, Tymlin could do nothing but watch her approaching those people, with her sword still covered with the young dwarf's blood.

A young men tried a desperate escape, but he was beheaded with a single shot; no one else moved, probably because they already knew that at that point their fate was unchangeable.

«No…» Tymlin tried to beg her. «Please… don't do it… I beg you…»

Finally, Ludwika reached the Calibrian refugees in front of the statue, completely indifferent to their desperate eyes and begs for mercy.

«Don't worry.» she smiled why rising the sword. «My master will assure that you'll have a happy life in the other world.»

«Stop it!» Tymlin shouted with all her voice.

But it was useless, and such massacre was enough even for Tymlin which collapsed to the ground, apparently dead.

Then, everything in that temple became silent, with the blood's dripping from Ludwika's sword as the sole, weak noise.

«Done it. My master will be surely happy.» she said before going back and heading towards the doors. «But now, it's time to go. There are so many people to play with out there.»

* * *

«Human!» a powerful and echoing voice suddenly shouted from Ludwika's back, pursuing her to turn again toward Vulcan's statue, now surrounded by a rainbow light. «How dare you enter in my temple and kill so many innocent people in front of my eyes! Maybe you're a truly an Apostle, but now I'll prove you that your still just a human!»

Then, the same light surrounded an apparently dead Tymlin, rising her from the ground and leaving her to levitate in midair.

First, her left arm literally grew back, but that was just the beginning: Tymlin's body began growing fast, changing her into an apparently twenty years-old young woman with longer hair, a gentle and more mature face and an athletic figure.

The broken hammer too transformed, rebuilding itself and turning into something similar to a war mace, with a longer rod and a shorter but even stronger head, before heading to Tymlin's hand.

«Young daughter of the mountains.» the statue said while the light gently put Tymlin to the ground before fading. «You kept on having faith on me till your last breath. It's time for me to reward you with the thing you desire most in this world. Now go, and do my will among the mortals.»

Then Tymlin opened her eyes, now turned red and shining, and shouting she launched herself against the enemy; Ludwika once again defended herself with the sword, but the impact was one hundred times more powerful than before, at the point of launching her directly in the square outside the temple.

«I'll make you pay for what you've done, monster!» she said with a more mature and powerful voice. «My master's rage will descend upon you!»

«Uao! Now it's really funny!» replied a not at all scared Ludwika. «Finally I found someone worth of me!»

At that point the battle started again, but this time it was a battle of equals, since both of them were now proper and true demigoddess blessed with their masters' influence.

However, right due to their being immortal, their one turned soon into an useless battle, since there was nothing they could do to kill each other.

Of course, even an apostle had her limits, since there was a point where her regenerative abilities became less efficient or signs of fatigue begun appearing, but after countless minutes of fight Tymlin was no more sure about having enough strength to push her opponent to reach that limit.

Maybe she was now an Apostle, but the pain she felt every time she was hurt was still terrible, and the subsequent healing was not far behind, while her opponent at the opposite had a pain threshold far better than hers, thanks to decades spent as a demigoddess.

For all these reasons, despite her new abilities Tymlin found herself still in a disadvantage situation very soon, almost out of breath due to the fight and sore throughout the body cause of the wounds taken while battling.

«Come on, is that all you can do? We can play again and again.»

«What… what kind of monster your master is? How can he consider all this funny?»

«My master says that everyone must worship him. He says that there's nothing wrong to kill heretics, and that if we kill a lot of heretics then more and more people will worship him.»

«Than your master is not a God! He's a demon! And I cannot shame Mighty Vulcan by letting me be defeated by the servant of a demon!»

But they were just mere words, because the truth was that Tymlin was at her limit, while Ludwika even if proved was still more than able to resist, and maybe defeat her.

Fortunately, right when the half-dwarf was about to surrender once again, someone came to assist her, and many shots of bullets forced Ludwika to draw back right when she was about to launch yet another deadly assault.

«Master Lunardi!»

«Resist Tymlin, we're here!»

A lot of bullets shot by Lunardi, Niang and the others hit Ludwika in various parts of her body, but once again the wounds healed almost immediately, leaving her almost unharmed and still deadly dangerous.

«What the…» Amato said

He and the others made a second attempt, but this time Ludwika avoided most of their shots, and even if some of them hit her the result was the same as before.

«What the hell is that child?» Niang asked

«She's an Apostle, watch out!» Lunardi shouted

«Hurray, more playthings for me!»

«Don't dare to touch them!» Tymlin shouted assaulting her with all of her remaining strength

Finally, Tymlin's assaults combined with the Falcon-1's support started making some effect, since Ludwika was facing more and more problems in defending against all those powerful and dangerous enemies. Niang's 50 caliber ultimately opened a hole in Ludwika's defenses, leaving her uncovered against Tymlin's furious assault.

«Take this!» the little girl shouted, hitting her tremendously, and literally shooting her against the wall of a nearby home.

This time, Ludwika's healing power took a bit to enter in action, leaving her exhausted and with a massive hole in her belly.

«I'm… I haven't had enough fun yet.» she said while trying to get up, but before she could be able to do it, some sort of magic rings appeared from nowhere, nailing her arms and legs to the wall and forcing her to remain set.

«Don't think you can remove them.» said Wise Pharmenon. «This binding spell has been created right to counter an Apostle's power.

Come on, finish her!»

Then, Lunardi ran against her holding a triggered grenade.

«Try to survive this!» he shouted before pushing the bomb in her still opened belly and leaving immediately.

The wound at that point healed, leaving the still triggered grenade stuck inside Ludwika's stomach.

«My. This will hurt a bit.»

The explosion was tremendous, and when the cloud of dust and debris settled on the ground everyone saw Ludwika still sat against the now collapsed wall, almost cut in two by the explosion and apparently dead.

They did it. Maybe she was a demigoddess, but such pain was far more what any human being, even if blessed by a God, was able to face without fainting.

«Is it… over?» said an exhausted Cassetti

Before someone could answer, once again Ludwika's body started healing.

«Shit, not again!» Lunardi shouted

«Leave this to me!» Anthelea said

The spell launched from her baton entered in the demigoddess' body, surrounding her with a green light and apparently stopping almost completely her wounds from healing.

«I slowed down her healing abilities! Come on, let's take her to the prison!»

Ludwika's defeat it hadn't gone unnoticed, and the sight of their demigoddess taken away as prisoner by the Calibrians was more than enough to fill the Reichians' heart with fear.

«Lady Ludwika has been defeated!» they started shouting.

Meanwhile, the defenders on the wall had been able to prevent the enemy from opening more breaches, successfully managing to contain the number of the Reichian forces inside the city; thanks to this, the Reichians found themselves very soon simply unable to defend their bridgehead inside the walls and started retreating, and the sight of Ludwika's defeat turned their retreat into a desperate escape.

«They're going!» Lunardi said

Shouts of joy echoed yet another time in all Calibria, and when the last Reichian left the walls were quickly reconquered.

Tymlin took a moment to fully understand what she had just done, but once the battle ultimately ended she felt a tremendous fatigue assaulting her, and before noticing she came back to her original aspect of a child.

«What the… why…»

«Probably Vulcan's power is not so strong yet.» Anthelea speculated. «So the blessing he gave you is not so big to allow you to keep your Apostle's power endlessly.»

«So he…» she said watching her rebuilt war mace. «He did it for true. He made me his Apostle.»

Then, the little girl's joy exploded.

«I knew it!» she said while hugging Lunardi. «I knew it he wasn't dead!»

«Anyway, congratulations Tymlin. You did a great job.»

Calibria wasn't safe yet, but now for the first time most of the soldiers felt that despite the other cities' betrayal, their homeland's safety was no more impossible.

* * *

When Ludwika woke up, she found herself closed into a Calibirian jail.

Her wounds were finally healed, but both the sword and her dress had been taken, leaving her with nothing but a simple white tunic. The moment she woke up, she immediately noted her being powerless, and looking at the ground she noted a magic circle inscribed on the stone.

«That spell nullify your Apostle's abilities.» Anthelea said from the bars of the closed door.

«And before you can try, I must warn you that you'll not be able to nullify its power.» said Aristhes close to her. «It's made in a way that only the caster can do it.»

Then, Ludwika took a sprig and started playing with a mantis.

«Well, I suppose I had enough fun for today, then it's ok to rest for a bit.»

«Your rest will be endless.» said the General. «Your comrades abandoned you, and Calibria is still resisting. Once defeated Reich, and the news of your defeat will spread among their troops, their faith for your God will fade away together with your powers.»

«Uh? But my Master says that one day everyone in this world will worship him, so why should happen what you say?»

«What kind of God are you serving?» said a disgusted Anthelea. «How can a God approve what you've done?»

At that point, Ludwika closed her eyes, and Anthelea felt a strange shiver crossing her mage's spiritual tendons; when the little girl looked at them once again, those same eyes had become dark and shining.

«You really think you can question the will of a God?» she said with a deeper and scarier voice.

The two Calibrians remained speechless: that was the first time for both of them to be in presence of a God.

«You are… Fuhrer!?»

«This world is already condemned. Nothing can change its fate. You cannot avoid what awaits you.»

«We already did it!» Aristhes replied. «Your armies have already been repelled, and soon they will be totally rejected!

Your fake religion will vanish together with Reich!»

«The process has already started. The circle will be repeated, and everything will start again as always happened.»

«What are you talking about?» Anthelea asked. «What circle?»

«Change is part of this world. It has always been. A circle will end, and a new one will happen. The pawns are moving already, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. This is far beyond your lives. It's the will of the Gods.»

«Is it part of the will of the Gods to slaughter innocents and made massacres in their name?» Aristhes shouted. «I refuse to believe it! You're not like the Gods I swore to fight for! You're only a demon! And whenever your change is, I'll never allow it to happen!»

«It's already happening. Right in front of you. The old world will die, and a new one will come. The rebirth assists destruction. Now you must make a choice: do you prefer to keep on living in a new world or die with the old one? It's all up to you.»

At that point, the light in Ludwika's eyes vanished, and the little girl returned to her old self.

«Well, I'm still a bit tired, I think I'll take one more nap. Good night.»

* * *

«Is this the power of Reich?» King Peralso shouted in rage. «Then I think we truly overestimated you!»

«It was just an unexpected mishap.» Octavia tried to minimize. «We still have the upper hand.»

«The upper hand!? Your supposed apostles has been defeated and taken away like the last of the idiots! Probably they're surely be laughing at us inside there!»

«You said us that you had everything to defeat Calibria.» said Malas, the King of Amaltea. «But even after having attacked them with all our troops and the same support of your Apostle, the city is still resisting. I'm starting to believe that the Calibrians are protected by truly powerful Gods.»

«There's only one God in this world, and it's Fuhrer.» Donzark replied. «And you're fools if you think that the mere defeat of his Apostle is enough to doubt of his power.»

«Her Holiness Ludwika is still a young Apostle.» Octavia tried to explain. «Her true powers have not completely awaken yet, not to mention that her childish nature sometime brings her to make some mistakes.

But you can trust me if I say you that neither this will be enough to stop us. Our combined armies will be more than enough to conquer the city, and we still have a lot of spies and agents awaiting for orders.»

«You can say whatever you want.» Peralso cut it short. «But for me, this alliance is over. I'm leaving tonight, and my soldiers will follow me.»

Then, the king moved a step to leave the tent.

«Your Majesty?» said a voice behind him.

Parelso then turned, and before he could try to do something Donzark shot him in the head with his one-hand gewehre; the king died immediately, and after some seconds Donzark threateningly pointed the weapon against the shocked Helen and Malas, leaving them frozen for fear.

«Congratulations, Queen Helen.» said Donzark with a sadistic smile. «You've just inherited your cousin's throne.

And don't worry. Like General Octavia said, this thing is not over yet. We promised you the end of Calibria, and that's what you'll have.»


	32. Hic et Nunc

**_Author's Notes_**

 _Hi to everyone!_

 _We're almost there! Just 1 chapter to the end!_

 _About this, I want to remind it again, but probably just by finishing this chapter you'll be able to understand it in any case:_ _ **this story will end with a cliffhanger!**_

 ** _This means that the events will not finish with it, but will continue with a new story that will begin on March 25._**

 _So, stay tuned!^_^_

 _See you soon!^_^_

* * *

31

When the wheel starts moving, it's difficult to stop it, especially if launched down a slope.

The militia's efforts to catch and jail as many spies and enemy agents as possible had been useful without a doubt, but even the most pessimistic defeatist could neither imagine how many snakes were hiding among them.

That's how Reich used to make wars: because money and fear sometimes were the best siege weapons, and probably Calibria's fate was signed even before the first arrow was thrown.

They entered in action all together the sixth night after the successful repel of the other cities' armies, all around the main door, and it was incredible how different they were in terms of work, social class or status. There were sensual dancers, humble beggars, trustworthy blacksmiths, even well-known and respected soldiers and officers, but they had one thing in common: they had been trained to become the most lethal and efficient in their job.

Each of them was moved by its own strings: money, vengeance, ambition, and even if some of them would have never thought of betraying one day his motherland, there was no more time for indecision.

The guards and sentinels surveilling the walls and the square in front of the doors were killed in the more different ways: poisoned with food, blowpipes and other things, stabbed in their back by their own former friends, sensually provoked before seeing their neck broken like a deadwood.

Once could say that if it was so simple to open a breach in Calibria's defenses maybe there was no reason for Reich to lose four months and almost twelve-thousand soldiers into an useless siege, but siege defenses and mechanical expedients were something about which the Calibrians had nothing to learn.

Each door of the walls was closed with a special mechanical lock, and the sole way to remove it was to operate from the mechanism placed on the top floor of the left tower; and to reach the said mechanism it was necessary to pass from six different doors while climbing the tower, each of it protected by a sentinel. In short it was almost impossible for someone with bad intentions to open the doors unnoticed, even considering that try to sabotage the mechanism was simply useless, since by trying the sole result was to see the door closed forever by a security lock.

The guards surveilling the door placed at the end of every flight of stairs had the order of piercing to death anyone passing in front of him, both friend and foe, excluding a really small number of authorized people.

But when that person appeared in front of them, despite the late hour and wearing something different than usual, none of them hesitated to let him approach, with the result of being stabbed one after the other.

At that point the newcomer reached the top of the tower without problems, and once crossed the last door he found himself face to face with the complicated control system of the doors, made of a steel pulley connected with a strange console made of four wooden levers. The last defensive expedient of Calibrian engineers: to make the pulley useful one had to unlock the four security locks blocking the chain of the doors, and there was a specific order it was necessary to follow a specific order.

«I've already activated the security lock.» said a voice, and moments later General Aristhes came out from an obscure angle of the room, pointing his sword toward the enemy. «Away from the controls.»

The saboteur obeyed, slowly raising hands once dropped his bloody sword.

«I never imagined I could witness such a thing one day, Your Majesty.»

Then, the enemy finally turned.

«So, you noticed it.» Deiphobos said.

«I prayed all Gods in heavens and earth to be wrong. I also gave the order to the guards to let you pass in case you arrived. Because if my doubts turned out to be correct, I wanted to see it with my own eyes. I wanted to see the king I swore to serve betray the same city he was supposed to protect.»

Deiphobos tried to lower his hands, but Aristhes threatened him to not do it.

«When did you notice?»

«When you killed General Kleytos. That soldier's words did nothing but torment me. He said he heard a noise behind the walls, as if someone was walking all around them. I tried to move myself to believe that it was just an impression, but the more I tried to think it, the most I couldn't avoid considering that probably the truth was far bigger than anyone would ever imagined.

So, after that I spent here every night, praying the Gods to be wrong and never see that door opening. Because there's only one people in all Calibria knowing the entrances to the secret tunnels connecting the palace with most of the city's buildings and authorized to come up here at the same. And it's you, Your Majesty.»

Deiphobos laughed weakly.

«You've always been the smart one of the family, boy. If I had known what that damned lame had told you, I would have had him executed much earlier.»

Aristhes' armed hand started trembling, but he moved himself to leave the sword pointed against the king.

«So you were the leader of the spies, not Kleytos.»

«That idiot. He thought he could leave all this just betraying me. He should have known that I would never allowed him to do it. Not while I still had some hopes of winning this war.»

«When did they buy you?»

«When they promised me to give a future to Calibria in exchange for our surrender. I prefer to be a vassal king than e dead king.»

«Why? Why are you doing this?»

«Why am I doing this?» the king replied in anger. «Don't you imagine it? You've been much closer than me to the battlefield, then you should already know the answer! I'm saving Calibria from ruin!»

«We're winning this war, father! We defeated their Apostle! We repelled even the other cities!»

«It's just a temporary victory, you fool! We lose hundreds of men every day, and soon even the other cities will be here! I prefer to surrender when I still have a city to offer instead of keeping this foolish resistance and see the reign of my father ruined to ashes.»

«But why do something like this? You're the king! You could've simply surrendered the city to Reich.»

«The council would've opposed, and you know it. They're a bunch of idealistic idiots. They prefer to die with their pride than keep on living accepting the fact that there's no more place for a small city like Calibria in the world we're inevitably going into.»

«What are you talking about?» said a more than shocked Aristhes

«We cannot stop this, Aristhes. Reich will win this war. And they'll win even all the next ones. We can choose to accept it and find our place in the world they're about to create, or keep on believing to be still a strong nation and die with our illusions. I made my choice, and you should do the same.»

«There's still hope!» Aristhes tried to say, but the increasing trembling of his hand was betraying him. «The Singing People… they will come…»

«They're exactly like Reich, you idiot! All they want is power! The power to rule this continent! The only difference is that they want to do it by reaching an agreement with the Empire!»

«What!? How did you…»

«I heard them! They're searching proofs of a link between their civilization and the Empire, and they found it! Once the news about this will spread, the Singing People and the Empire will form an alliance! Do you really think we could have some hopes of counting in such scenario? I prefer to entrust Calibria to Reich instead of selling it to these barbarians from another world or the Imperial pigs! At least like this our city will still have hope of being partially in control of its fate!»

Aristhes couldn't believe it: he was pointing the sword against his king and father.

But at the end, the memory of his oath to the motherland as a Prince and a General proved being stronger of the one made to the king, and trying as possible to stop his hand from trembling he pointed the sword closer to Deiphobos' neck.

«I will not let you ruin my city. You're under arrest, Your Majesty. Your fate will be decided by the Council.»

Suddenly, another enemy agent appeared at the room's entrance.

«What's happening here?»

Caught by surprise, Aristhes hesitated for a single instant, but that was more than enough for Deiphobos to take a one-hand gewehre out from the armor and shoot in the shoulder of his own son. The General immediately fell to the ground badly wounded, trying as possible to stop the bleeding by pressing one hand against the wound.

«My King…» said the spy

«It's all right. I'll take care of this. Make the signal.»

Then the spy left, leaving father and son alone once again.

«Maybe I should've told you before.» said Deiphobos while reaching again the controls of the doors. «But months ago I ordered our engineers to create a system to deactivate the security lock. All I have to do is to move the levers in a certain order, and the lock will be removed making the doors openable once again.»

Unfortunately his words proved being truth the moment Aristhes heard a mechanical noise coming from the controls, a more than clear proof that the lock had been deactivated.

«Please, father… don't do it.»

«I told you, I'm doing this only for Calibria.» he said while proceeding to remove even the original lock. «The Reichians are not so bad after all. They promised to let us keep our crown, and thanks to them Calibria will retake its legitimate role as ruler city of the plains. So I think we should be…»

But the king had no time to finish, because in that moment a blade pierced him from side to side, and once painfully turned the head he saw his own son with both hands firmly clasped on the hilt of the sword.

«You… idiot…»

Deiphobos died almost immediately, and Aristhes desperately tried to reinsert the lock with his remaining strength. But it was too late, and the sight of the chains moving, followed by the noise of the doors' mechanism from outside, were the last things he saw and heard before fading.

* * *

When the doors opened, a flaming arrow crossed the night sky, watched with satisfaction from the top of Hardy's Throne by Reichian Generals and the other kings of the Plains.

«He did it.» Octavia said. «The city is ours.»

«That fatty bastard. He proved to be useful at the end.» he said before turning to the troops. «Calibria has fallen! Burn it, my soldiers! Burn it and take whatever you want! It's your price for victory!»

«Wait, Donzark.» Octavia said. «We gave our word. The city has to be as painless as possible.»

«That everyone see what happens to defy us.» Donzark replied. «Don't you think, my General?»

The woman hesitated, but at the end she too turned to the soldiers.

«Do not get carried away. You're allowed to loot, but the palace is off-limits. And spare anyone who surrenders, especially the soldiers and mages.»

Then, she drew her sword, victoriously pointing it against the city in the shadow of Reich's war flag.

«Come on, soldiers! Calibria is ours!»

The entire Reichian and allied armies exploded in a single, victorious war cry, and making earth tremble under their rush they stormed against the city, passing unharmed the same walls they had tried to conquer for months and storming against the city.

The inhabitants, but even the few guards spared by the spies, were caught in total surprise, and despite Octavia's warnings the conquest turned incredibly soon into a massacre.

Women, children, old ones: no one was spared.

Some groups of soldiers desperately tried to form defensive lines, but this time there was simply nothing they could do to face that wave of madmen that started to set fires, rape women, hang nobles, throw children down from the walls, destroying everything along the way.

The day no one ever imagined had finally arrived: Calibria, the most powerful city of the Haqaba Plains, had fallen.

* * *

Tassoni was sleeping in his cell when the chaos exploded, and once reached the barred window he was able to see lower city turned into one single, gigantic fire.

«Ehi, ehi! What's happening?» he shouted while beating at the door. «Is anyone there?»

Unfortunately he couldn't know that meanwhile a small group of soldiers specifically tasked for an important mission and leaded by the same General Octavia had reached the prison; however, instead of wasting time in search for an entrance, they chose to pass from their own door, placing a small number of bombazze at the foot of a wall.

«Stay back!» Octavia shouted while turning on the fuse.

The resulting explosion was tremendous, at the point that Tassoni saw the external wall of his cell literally collapse over him, opening an enormous hole that almost made the entire building collapse.

Once found their way to the prison, the Reichian started searching along the cells.

«Your Holiness! Where are you? Please answer us!»

«I'm right here.» said a small voice coming from behind a massive iron door.

With a bit of work Octavia and her men destroyed the over ten locks placed to defend the cell, and once opened the door they immediately kneeled.

«We're here for you, Your Holiness.»

«Damn, I was still sleeping.» said Ludwika while yawning visibly. «Well, it doesn't matter.»

«Your Holiness, the troops respectfully desire to see you fighting again at their sight.»

Ludwika initially seemed to ignored her, but after yet another yawn and a bit of stretching she recovered a sword from the body of a dead soldier killed by Octavia and his men while searching for her.

«Ok, it's time to play again! I'm coming!» and she ran outside.

At that point, the General and the rest of the squad took their way to leave the prison, but before leaving through the same breach they had entered, a weak rattle coming from a pile of debris caught their attention. Some stones were removed from under the pile, and under their eyes a seriously wounded but still alive Tassoni emerged from the rubble.

«One of the Singing People?» said a surprised General. «Here on prison?»

Tassoni tried to look up, but he was so weak and battered that he had neither enough force to remain completely awake.

«What we do with him, General?» asked one of her man pointing the lance toward the prisoner

Octavia reflected for a moment, then made her decision.

«He could be useful. Let's take him with us.»

«Yes sir.»

At that point, two of the soldiers picked up a still half-fainted Stefano and took him away.

* * *

The magic school was located on the top of an hill in the eastern part of the lower city, and the sole way to reach it was across a long and a bit narrow stone stair passing among the houses all around: due to this, it was a good place for a last standoff.

Supported by a bit of students, Anthelea and Pharmenon formed a defensive line against Reich's assaults, trying in meantime to guide as more inhabitants as possible inside the school, probably the sole place in the entire city where they could hope to find some protection.

Even Medea and young Lyndon, once recovered their magic batons, had joined the battle, providing further support with their magic knowledge.

Soon all those mages turned the square in front of the school into an Armageddon of spells, making rain fireballs, thunders and tsunami above Reich's troops, but after almost half an hour of battle most of them were exhausted.

«We cannot fight much longer, Wise Pharmenon!» said Anthelea

«Just try to resist! We must wait for Lady Sadee!»

Fortunately, Sadee came back a few minutes later, taking with her a lot of other survivors found along the streets all around the school, and at the same moment the enemy troops stopped arriving for a while, giving the few mages and soldiers still able to fight a bit of time to catch some breath.

«That's all you got!?» Medea asked seeing so few people

«The city is collapsing. There are Reich troops everywhere.» then she turned to Phaemenon. «So Wise Pharmenon, can you please tell us what you're thinking to? Why you told us to take as many people as possible to the school?»

«There's a secret entrance to the tunnels in the school's underground. We can evacuate at least these people out of the city.»

«The tunnels!?» said Lyndon. «You know them!?»

«I'm the King's brother, after all.»

«But the tunnels are a labyrinth.» Medea objected. «We could get lost down there.»

«No, I know the route. There's a second way that leads beyond the walls, and I'm the only one to know it. Trust me, we can do it.»

«And what if the Reichians have found the other entrances?» Medea asked

«I know it's risky, but it's the only option we have.»

Suddenly a noise came from the stairs, and everyone turned ready to repel a new enemy wave; but instead of an enemy, Sadee and the others saw Prince Aristhes coming to them, seriously wounded and barely able to walk.

«Brother!» Anthelea said running to him with the others.

The prince was taken close to the entrance and both Anthelea and Pharmenon tried to heal him, only to find out that since it was the kind of wound for which there were no magic healings known there was nothing they could do apart for relieving his pain a little.

«Don't worry brother, you're safe now. We'll take you out of here.»

«It's… it's been our father…»

«What!?»

«Our father… the king… has betrayed us. He opened the gates… I… killed him…»

Hearing this, everyone around him became pale.

«The king… a traitor!?» Sadee said in disbelief

But there was no time to be shocked. For the moment the enemies had stopped coming, but there was probably just a matter of time before the next assault arrived.

«We have no more time.» Pharmenon said, and giving proof of his outstanding powers he created a magic barrier all around the school all by himself. «Come on, this will protect us for a while! Let's go to the tunnels!»

At that point, Anthelea and Medea took Aristhes on their shoulders and everyone took their way toward the entrance.

«Lady Sadee!» said Lyndon coming to her after having left shortly before to care for the survivors. «Lady Radika is still in the library!»

«I go take her. You reunite the citizens and follow Wise Pharmenon to the tunnels.»

«Yes my lady.»

Before crossing the doors, Medea turned for a moment toward the palace, trying to be as much optimistic as possible; she would've liked to go there herself, but she knew that even with her archer and warrior abilities and her magic knowledge it was simply a suicide to try it.

«Please Flavio, be safe.» she said before entering.

* * *

Before opening the outer doors, Deiphoos and the other traitors had removed all locks even from the ones of the internal walls, so that when the Reichians arrived all they had to do was to push them, leaving even the most well-protected part of the city completely defenseless.

Fabio and the rest of the Falcon-1 did their best to try protect at least the palace's courtyard as much as the few soldiers still able to fight, but when enemies started coming from all directions it was clear that Calibria was simply lost.

«Captain, if we stay here we're already dead!» Rocco said while shooting in all directions like all the others. «Please, give us the order to retreat!»

Flavio didn't know what to do. As a Captain his primal duty was to save as much members of his squad as possible, but at the opposite he couldn't simply leave the others to their fate without trying at least to save them.

Tassoni, Radoni, Tymlin. Sadee.

They were all somewhere in that living hell of flames, shouts and blood. Probably there were also dead already, but Lunardi simply refused to believe it.

However, at the end he had no choice but accept that the top priority was to save the ones around him instead of caring for the others out there.

«It's impossible to leave the city in this state! We need the vehicles!»

«Are you crazy?» said Stefanini «The storehouse is over five hundred meters far from here, in the heart of the lower city!»

«This is the only option we have! Without the vehicles we're already dead!»

It was true. Pretending to pass across a city swarming with enemies and an entire enemy camp on the outside was beyond foolishness, so if they wanted to have even the minimum change of salvation, they had to recover at least the VM-90.

«These will be the most endless fifth hundred meters of my fucking life, shit!» Amato said while loading the rifle.

«Come on, let's go!»

* * *

Radika simply couldn't allow to all knowledge stored in the school's library to get lost.

For this, once understood what was happening, she had immediately headed there, and once found a large enough jute sack she had immediately started filling it with as much books, parchments and notes as possible, trying to save the best of each section.

«What are you doing here?» Sadee asked when she finally found her

«We both know what Reich thinks of ancient knowledge! They'll sack this place, or maybe worse! We cannot allow to all this to get lost!»

«They're about to enter the school, you idiot! We cannot stay anymore!»

«I've almost finished! Just a minute!»

Then, as if a God was moving her hand, when Radika took a book from the Sorcery section, the one next to it fell from the shelf, opening and revealing a strange series of handmade pictures surrounded by notes written into elven language.

«What the…» Radika said, and once took it from the ground she immediately recognized those images. «Oh my God…»

«Giuseppe, curse to you, let's go!» Sadee called him again

«Y… yes, I'm coming!» she said when she was finally able to recover.


	33. Quis contra nos?

**_Author's Notes (1)_**

 _This time the notes are at the end of the chapter. Make sure of read them._

 _Enjoy the reading!^^_

* * *

32

Amato was saying the truth: the five-hundred meters necessary to reach the storehouse turned really soon into the most terrible and difficult ones of their lives.

Along the road, everything around them was nothing but destruction, massacres and death. The Calibrians were alone in front of a savage and brutal enemy anxious to make them pay for months of useless siege, and the few soldiers left were totally helpless, moving targets easily killable.

The only good things was that in such mess almost no one payed attention to the Falcon-1, allowing them to spare ammunition.

Obviously they didn't expect to find someone of their friends still alive, and due to this, once reached Vulcan's temple they were everyone quite surprised to find Tymlin still fighting with everything she had.

«Master Lunardi! You're alive!»

«We gotta go, Tymlin!» Flavio said «Come with us! We're going to the vehicles!»

«What!?» she said in disbelief. «Are you escaping?»

«Of course we're doing!» Stefanini replied. «Come on, brat! Move it!»

«But… we can't! The city… the people…»

«The city is lost!» Torrisi said «And so its people! But we can still save our lives if we move!»

«We can't!» the little girl protested. «The Apostle of Vulcan cannot escape and abandon her disciples! This would be a shame! And I'm not…»

A not so powerful but still painful slap made her cheek red, pursuing her to look right above her.

«Enough, Tymlin. Sometimes, the escape is the only way. I know that there's a lot of shame in leaving behind all these people, but only by saving your life you can hope to be able to fight again in the future. Not to mention that if you die tonight, your cult will die with you. Do you really want this?»

«Master Lunardi…» Tymlin said as the child that after all she still was.

At the end, she had no choice but accept what Vulcan had chosen to her, and after having looked her beloved temple for the last time, struggling to stop herself from crying, she ultimately left, swearing to every God she knew that she would return to rebuild it again.

«Come on, we're almost there.»

* * *

The entrance to the tunnels was located into an apparently innocent storage room in the school's underground, commonly used to store alcohol and other chemical things used for magic studies.

All that Pharmenon had to do was to push a secret button hidden behind a chest, and part of the wall rose up revealing the gallery behind.

«Reach the first fork and wait us there!» said the old mage opening the way to the citizens. «We'll guide you out of the city.»

«But where can we go, uncle?» Anthelea asked while dozens of people kept on passing in front of them

«To Castria. At this point, the Singing People are our only hope for salvation.»

«But the city is surrounded. They'll hunt for us.»

«I think I know my land better than the Reichians. Trust me, once reached Arlea we should be safe.»

In a few minutes everyone entered into the tunnels, but Radika and Sadee were still missing.

«But where are them?» Lyndon protested

«We're here, wait for us!» said a voice, and a moment later the two girls appeared from the door, trying to run as best as possible while carrying a sack full of books.

«Sorry for delay, there's no one behind us.» Sadee said replacing Lyndon in helping Anthelea to transport Aristhes

«Al right, then let's go. That barrier will not keep them at bay forever.»

Anthelea and Sadee at that point tried to proceed further, but Aristhes was still complaining too much for pain so they were forced to let him rests a bit.

«It's… useless. I'm too weak. Leave me here. I would be… only but a burden for you.»

«No brother, don't say this. You have to resist. We'll leave all together. Did you hear uncle Pharmenon? We must simply reach the Singing People, and everything will be fine.»

Suddenly, a threatening noise came from the locked door at the end of the corridor, followed by vigorous attempts to open it.

«They're here!» Pharmenon said. «Come on, there's no more time!»

At that point the old mage tried to activate the lock once again, but despite his efforts and aver having pushed the secret button the door didn't close.

«Curse! It's stuck!»

«What!?» Sadee said, and meanwhile the noises were more than eloquent in say that the corridor's door was about to be smashed.

Then, Aristhes painfully got up from the floor and drew his sword.

«Get away.»

Everyone silenced.

«Aristhes…» said a shocked Pharmenon

«Leave this place. I'll take them at bay.»

«No, brother, you can't!» Anthelea said in tears. «Not you too! I've lost too much friends this night!»

But Aristhes put an hand on her head, pushing her nose to nose and looking right in her eyes.

«You're the queen now, sister. Swear that you'll come back here and you'll take back our city from Reich, becoming the ruler that our father was not.»

«I… I…»

«Swear it!»

«I… swear…»

Then, Aristhes gently caressed her cheek, like when they were both children and used playing in the gardens of the palace, before their paths were divided by the routes their father had chosen for them.

«Now go!»

«Brother! Brother!» Anthelea kept on shouting while she was literally grabbed and taken away by Sadee and her uncle.

Once alone, Aristhes remained silent until when the door was finally destroyed, and a few seconds later six Reich soldiers entered the room. The sight of a single and more over wounded man standing in front of them, even if armed, pursued initially the assaulters to consider him an easy prey, but when they ultimately recognized him their attitude changed immediately.

After all, they had seen Aristhes on action many times during the last months, and they knew that even if wounded he was still more than able to be a potentially deadly enemy.

The Reichians took a bit of time, waiting for the wound on the enemy General's shoulder to deprive him of further energy, then they finally attacked; once recovered a torch from the wall and using it as a second weapon, Aristhes successfully defended himself for an incredible amount of time, even succeeding in killing two of them, but at the end a third one mortally pierced him in a flank. The young General shouted with all of his voice, and even if he was able to behead his assailant at that point he was really one step from death.

But once again, he refused to die: he simply couldn't fall yet. Surely the survivors hadn't left far enough yet, and in any case to assure their safety that entrance's existence had to remain a secret at least for a bit more time.

Aristhes looked around, and when he ultimately noted the countless bottles filling the shelves, some of which had even broken during the battle spreading their contents to the ground, he made his decision.

«Long live Calibria.» he smiled. «Anthelea. I entrust you our city.»

* * *

Then, under the eyes of the remaining Reichians, he let the torch fall, and in less than a second a tremendous explosion wiped away the entire room, burying it under a tons of debris.

After what could be easily considerate a march through hell, the Falcon-1 and Tymlin finally reached the storehouse.

Fortunately that part of the city was still almost completely free from enemies, and in any case the door of the building was too much heavy, and the locks too complicated because they could easily open it.

A bit of bullets were more than enough to open the locks and free the VM-90 from their prison: finally, that cursed hell was about to end.

Lunardi, Torrisi, Amato, Cassetti, Rocco, Wu, Stefanini and Valenti took place aboard the first vehicle together with Tymlin, while Niang was left in command of the second one.

Despite the long period spent resting, the engines of both vehicles turned on immediately.

«Very well gentlemen!» said Cassetti behind the wheel of the first truck. «Hold on tight!»

A small group of Reichians were about to reach the storehouse right on that moment, but they were all wiped away when the two truck left the building, heading immediately toward the wall.

«Go to the southern gate!» Lunardi ordered from the turret. «It's highly improbable that they've reached it already!»

«Yes sir!»

The sight of the vehicles launched at full speed across the narrow streets of Calibria pursued many Reichians to pursue them, but they were not the kind of things they could hope to stop, and anyone who tried was shot or simply invested without mercy.

All around them, the city was collapsing, but there was no time or space aboard to try saving some inhabitants, and even they were ashamed of themselves for abandoning all those people to their fate, Lunardi and the others had no choice but keep on running, because at that point their same lives were at stake.

«We're almost there!» Cassetti said once entered in Prince Aulas Road. «Just resist a bit more!»

But unfortunately it wasn't over yet, and right where there were only a few hundred meters left to reach the door, and sinister and familiar voice came from behind the soldiers' back.

«Don't think you can run. My Master asks for your souls!»

«Shit, not that monster again!» Cassetti said seeing appear in the rearview mirror.

Ludwika was so incredibly fast that despite the trucks were going almost at their full speed she was still able to tailgating them; both Lunardi and Niang tried to stop her, but once again every wound she suffered was capable to heal in a matter of seconds.

«Leave her to me, I'll take care of her once again!» said Tymlin, but Valenti and Stefanini instantly grabbed her tightly

«Where you think to go, you little idiot?» Stefanini shouted

«Let me go! I can face her!»

«You don't have your Apostle powers anymore!» Valenti replied. «She would kill you for sure!»

Finally, Ludwika jumped higher than any human being, and once reached the higher position she violently launched the sword she was wearing. The weapon missed Lunardi for a matter of centimeters, but once reached the other truck it pierced Boldi right in the neck, instantly killing him.

Once deprived of its driver, the second VM-90 went immediately out of control and collided with Lunardi's, which miraculously didn't turn over but went broke due to the impact. The other vehicles at the opposite fell on a side, crawling for over ten meters on the road and finally crashing into a building.

Niang was the only one which managed to jump off the vehicle on time, because immediately after the incident the VM-90 exploded, killing everyone else.

«Niang!» Lunardi shouted from the top of the turret

The Ethiopia's native was in a bad state, but after a couple of attempts he managed to get up, only to find himself face to face with that monster.

«You're strong.» Ludwika said recovering a new sword from a Calibrian soldier's dead body. «You'll be a fine tribute for my Master.»

Niang took out the war knife and attacked after a moment of excitation, thinking that being almost three times his opponent he could have some sort of upper hand even against the kind of beast he was about to face.

«Get away! Captain, take them out of here!»

But the truth was that Ludwika was something that a common human being was simply unable to face, no matter how strong and trained one could be. The little girl successfully avoided every attack Niang launched against her, answering if necessary with deadly accuracy, and after just a couple of assaults the massive soldier was already at his limit.

«Theodore!»

Flavio instinctively tried to help him, only to find out that the browning was now empty.

«What are you doing? I said leave!»

Almost completely exhausted, Niang launched a new and desperate assault, but Ludwika stopped him once again with no efforts, and this time she answered by cutting away his left hand.

His desperate screams of pain was more than what his companions were ready to accept, and even if they knew they had no hopes of winning they simply couldn't stay still to assist while one of them was massacred.

«Shit!» Rocco said. «Resist, my friend! We're coming!»

«Stay here, Sergeant!» a voice shouted, forcing everyone to stay put

«What!? But, Captain!»

«I said stay here!» Flavio commended him with the most serious and menacing tone. «This is an order!»

Meanwhile, Cassetti was desperately trying to make the other truck start again.

«Come on, you fucking piece of junk!» he said while keeping on turning the key into the panel.

Finally the engine started, and even if damaged the vehicle quickly went out of the garden where it was stuck after the incident.

«Let's go, move out!» Lunardi ordered

«Yes sir!»

Hearing the track leaving behind him was the best think Niang could hope to hear.

«What a bad luck.» Ludwika commented. «Well, no matter. I can still satisfy my master with you.»

The solider launched one last attack trying to overwhelm the little girl, then with the sole hand he had he grabbed her tiny neck the stronger he could. But even like this, Ludwika simply ignored the pain she should have felt, and with the sword she cut off even Niang's other hand, leaving him powerless and totally unharmed.

With his last breath, Theodore thought back to his native home in Addis Abeba, his sister in Paris, and his wife and daughter waiting for him in Frosinone. Ludwika rose up her sword, and a moment later Niang's head rolled on the ground.

Sometime later, the remaining VM-90 reached the southern doors, finding them close as expected.

«Captain, a passe-partout would be truly appreciated!» said Cassetti

«Rocco! Give me the rocket-launcher!»

But the Sergean hesitated, looking his Captain with strange and almost obscure eyes.

«Did you hear me or not?»

«Yes… sir.» Rocco said finally obeying the order.

The rocket blew the doors away without problems, and finally Lunardi and what remained of the Falcon-1 left the city, heading south as fast as possible while Calibria kept on burning turning the night into day.

* * *

At sunrise, everything was different: no people filling the market, no children playing in the courtyards, no priests visiting houses to offer prayers and blessings.

Everything in Calibria was silent; the stink of smoke and burned corpses was covering everything else, and the streets were full of dead bodies.

After the battle, the few remaining survivors, more or less one fifth of the original population, were kept into the palace's large square to be identified and kept under surveillance. They were mages and civilians for the most part, but even a certain number of soldiers which had chosen to put their lives in front of things like pride and honor, all the opposite of the entire Council that instead had chosen to sacrifice their lives to protect at least the throne room during a desperate final stand.

There were also a lot of mages, and in particular young students from every corner of the world, the sole ones that General Octavia had categorically ordered to spare: after all, they were the best hostages.

Once assured the total control of the city, Octavia had ordered to also look for the Singing People, but as expected they found nothing but a grave, a beheaded one and the burned remains of one of their self-moving chariots with six of them aboard, obviously already dead.

Initially they thought that apart for the captured one of the prison, the Singing People's garrison in the city had been totally wiped away, but everything changed when some of the soldiers referred of having seen one of those chariots leaving the city during the battle, and the discovery of more than eloquent traces close to the southern gate was enough to confirm the Generals' suspects.

«They left.» Octavia said while looking fist the traces on the ground, and then the destroyed doors in front of them. «I'll give the order to implement surveillance along the paths toward Castria.»

«They'll not try to return Castria.» said Donzark with a sinister smile. «They're not so stupid. But this doesn't mean that I will allow them to live.» then he called one of his soldiers. «Prepare a platoon of horsemen. Choose the best ones of my units.»

«Yes my lord!» the soldier said while leaving

«Do you intend to follow them?» Octavia asked. «It could be dangerous.»

«I still have to make them pay for what they did to me during the siege of Castria.» Donzark replied while looking at his sword, and especially the small crack at the center of the blade. «Not to mention that I have a bit of things to settle with their commander.»

* * *

Considering the situation, the foreign delegations and their media that were currently visiting Alnus Hill and the locals' colony were creating more problems than others, and obviously most of the work to keep things going well was all above Noriko's shoulders.

She had accepted to cooperate with the JSDF to try forgetting about her latest months as a slave of Prince Zorzal, and maybe to try thinking something different from the fact that no one was more waiting for her on the other side, but the sole fact of being forced to work as some sort of secretary for all those stupid journalists was almost pursuing her to complain her choice.

But maybe there was a bit of hope with the Italians. According to the reports from the HQ, they had been well trained by the same JSDF, and so they already knew what kind of behavior was better to keep with most of the locals; probably it was all thanks to the well know good relationships between Rome and Tokyo, which had allowed to the Italians to gain special and privileged information regarding the Special Region and Japanese mission beyond the Gate.

Obviously these kind of things were a top secret information for the rest of the world, so Noriko waited until the other delegations were occupied with their things to reach the Italian journalists at the barrack close to the gate. Together with them there was also a solider, Fukada Sanae, which as always would have followed the journalists to assure the respect of the rules.

«Welcome to Alnus, gentlemen.» Noriko said respectfully saluting them. «I'm Noriko Mochizuki, and I'll be your guide across the base and the town of the colonists.»

«Thanks for your assistance, Mochizuki-san.» said their chief, a middle-aged blonde man very gentle and educate. «I'm Pietro Giordani, from the Italian national tv. These are my colleagues, Mr. de Simoni, Mr. Meggiorini, and Mr. Plini.»

Carlo Plini was a very well-known journalist in Japan as much as in Italy, since he used working both for Italian National tv and occasionally as an commentator of European affairs for the NHK.

«I know Mr. Plini. He's quite popular even in Japan. It's a pleasure to meet you.»

«Same for me, Mochizuki-san.»

«General Hazama has given special orders for you. You're allowed to visit and film even zones declared off-limits for all the other delegations. However, everything you'll film and record will need to be inspected and approved by the JSDF.»

«Of course. We know the rules.» said Giordani. «So, we wanna start?»

* * *

The Italians then started their work, and after having filmed the base for a bit, like all other ones they asked to be taken right at the colonists' settlement: after all, that was the first thing the people of Earth most wanted to see.

«Quite livable here, if I can.» de Simoni commented noting the crowd on the streets

«We're doing their best to assure a fine living and respect of the rules, but the city keeps on growing up every day.» Fukada explained.

«And people of different cultures and races live here all together without problems?» asked Giordani

«The main rule is that inside here all previous differences have no valor. If they want to live in this colony, they have to follow Japanese rules.»

«Well, it seems he's going quite well, than I suppose it's ok.»

«More or less. Sometimes problems happen, but the military police are always vigilant, and if someone breaks the rules he's immediately exiled or deported to Italica's prisons.»

The Italians made more other videos and collected a bit of comments from the locals, especially among the demi-humans, then they asked for a strange and somehow unusual thing.

«We would like to film how they live in this world. I mean, their daily life.»

«Why?» asked a confused Noriko. «It's a strange request.»

«The streets are a place for the mess. We would like to see how these people live in their houses.»

None of the other delegations had made such kind of request, but after all there was no reason to say no.

Then, Giordani headed toward the first human he saw, a young woman making shopping.

«Excuse me lady, I would like to ask you something.»

The woman looked at him in a strange and almost worried way, at the point that Noriko felt that it was better to intervene.

«Don't worry, Lucia. They're just journalists. Friends from another world.»

«Friends!?» she said

«Do you know her, Mochizuki-san?»

«She's Lucia, one of the local healers. His husband Marcus works for the JSDF at the base. She's also a mage.»

«A mage!? What a luck. So, lady Lucia. Would you like to accept our request?»

Lucia did not seem too convinced, but in the end she unexpectedly accepted, leading her strange guests toward her house.

«Dear, I'm home.» she said once finally reached her door. «There are some guests with me?»

«Guests? Let them enter, of course.»

«Please, enter.» she said opening the door. «And please, don't care for the mess.»

«Don't worry, it's ok.»

Accepting Giordani's request, Noriko and Fukada entered for firsts, in a strange but wise attempt to prove once again that they had no bad intentions both to the woman and her husband.

However, once crossed the door, the two women noted that Marcus was not alone.

«Unar.» Noriko said. «Why are you here? I thought you were with the German delegation.»

But there was something else apart for that, something that neither Noriko or Fukada initially noted: the two men's expression. And when they finally saw their glances, and Lucia's eyes too took the same light, it was too late.

«What the…»

They tried to turn, only to find out that Giordani and the others had entered too in meantime, closing the door and remaining between them and the sole escape route.

«What's happening here?» Fukada protested. «What are you…» and she instinctively tried to take the gun.

Giordani and de Simoni then pointed their pens against them and pushed the buttons, and the moment some thin and almost invisible needles hit them they both immediately fell asleep.

«Come on, we don't have much time.» Giordani said

Marcus slightly opened again the door to be sure that no one was coming before locking it.

«Take care of them.» he ordered to Unar

«All right.» the orc replied taking both Noriko and Fukada on shoulder and taking them in the bedroom, where Lucia was already waiting to cast an oblivion spell.

Meanwhile, the supposed journalists opened their supposed instruments, revealing some pieces that once put together turned into a radio, a Morse system, a small antenna and a battery.

«Is everything set?» de Simoni asked

«Of course, it's right here.» Marcus answered while removing a carpet and revealing a small trap hole.

The underground was made by a brief corridor, and once crossed it the five men found themselves into a small room built in the naked stone, provided with a small table, a stool and a magic light.

«That's the place.»

«Very well.» Giordani said. «Let's get to work.»

Meggiorini at that point opened his laptop, and once connected it to the radio he started working as fast as possible.

«Are you sure this will be ok?» de Simoni demanded «We're quite far from the base, not to mention that we're underground.»

«I've already settled a secondary antenna on the roof.» Marcus said. «It's hidden by a magic spell. Don't worry, there will be no problems.»

«I hope it. I don't wanna even consider what could happen to us if all this operation should fail.» Giornadi commented. «What if they should find this place?»

«We worked in secret for months. No one knows about this apart for us and few other of your spies. But we prepared an emergency escape just in case. It's right there, behind that wall.»

A couple of minutes later, Meggiornini completed his work.

«Done it.»

«It works?»

«Completely. The signal is stable and well hidden.»

«Very well.» then Giordani turned to Marcus. «So, let's summarize. With this instrument, you'll be able to send Morse messages through the Gate. We've already hacked the Japanese's radio signal, so you'll have no connection problems. The message will be hidden inside their transmissions, which will be kept under constant surveillance by the special task force in our embassy. You have to send reports about everything, no matter if you think it's important or not. Understood?»

«But what if the Japanese should find the secret message?»

«The Japanese keep under control the transmissions from Earth to the Special Region, and not vice-versa. They cannot imagine that someone is hacking their signal from this side. And in any case, whenever they should find something, they'll simply think of a trivial interference. We'll use the same method to send messages on this side, so make sure that everyone is always here.»

«Of course.»

* * *

When Noriko and Fukada woke up, they found themselves sat at the dining table of Lucia and Marcu's home; the owners were answering to the Italians's questions, and the interview was apparently about to end. Everything was truly strange, and they both felt the most terrible headache.

«Oh, you're awake.» Marcus said. «Noriko-san, it's quite strange for you to fall asleep like this. A lack of rest maybe?»

«Dear, don't say such things. Noriko-san is working hard in these days, you know it.»

«I'm sorry.» he smiled. «But your ita-something friends are really fine and gentle. Surely better than most of the others.»

«What's happened?» Noriko said rubbing her head. «I feel so… confused.»

«It's my fault.» said Lucia. «Maybe that relaxing herbal tea was a bit too strong. I'm terribly sorry.»

«It's ok.» Fukada answered. «I really needed a nap after all.»

About twenty minutes later the interview was over, and the Italian delegation respectfully left the house.

«Thanks for your efforts, Noriko-san.» said Giordani. «The Italian audience will be truly amazed.»

«I hope so.» the woman replied with a gentle smile.

* * *

 ** _Author's Notes (2)_**

 _Hi to everyone!_

 _And we're finally here! This is the end! Or maybe, this is just the beginning. The beginning of a new story._

 _Yes, because as you can easily imagine, and as I said many times lately, my Gate spin-off will continue with a new fanfiction, a sequel named **Gate - Last Escape** , where we'll know the fate of the Falcon-1, the Falcon-9 and all other characters involved in the events that will follow._

 _It will be a quite short story (Fifteen, maybe Twenty chapters at maximum), because originally both this story and the next one were supposed to be all part of Gate - Warfare: however, I've recently chosen to split the story in two, partially because I had already reached chapter 32 and mainly to put the right emphasis to the events that you'll read in Last Escape._

 _ **Gate Last Escape will start on** **Sunday, March 25th** , and in meantime you'll be able to see the fan-trailer I prepared longtime ago. Plus this, I'll create even a summary video of the events of Gate Warfare, so that the ones that will start reading Last Escape will have the opportunity to know the background with no need to read this story too. Check for both of them on my youtube channel (Cj Spencer)  
_

 _So, that's all folks!_

 _I hope you enjoyed this story, and i want to thank all the ones that gave me their support with their reviews, or simply by reading, following and/or favouriting it!^^_

 _See you on March 25th!^^_

 _Cj Spencer_


End file.
